Free Republic

Earlier this year, leading House Republicans proposed to privatize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or place them in receivership starting in two years. Now, as Republicans prepare to assume control of the House next week, they aren't in as big a rush, cautioning that withdrawing government support in the housing market should be gradual. View Full Image Associated PressGOP Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey. "We recognize that some things can be done overnight and other things can't be," said Rep. Scott Garrett (R., N.J.), incoming chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee, which oversees Fannie and Freddie....

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- After failing to get climate-change legislation through Congress, the Obama administration plans on pushing through its environmental policies through other means, and Republicans are ready to put up a fight. On Jan. 2, new carbon emissions limits will be put forward as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares regulations that would force companies to get permits to release greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Critics say the new rules are a backdoor effort to enact the president's agenda on global warming without the support of Congress, and would hurt the economy and put jobs in jeopardy by...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that the Tea Party needs to commit to being problem-solvers in the new Congress. On "Face the Nation," Graham was asked about the prospects for bipartisanship come January. "The House is in revolt," he said of the difficulty of extending the Bush-era tax cuts. "People are pissed off in the House at the estate tax. That's going to carry over a bit."

Washington, Dec. 8, 1860Library of CongressGate and north portico of the White House, circa 1859-61 Five Southern gentlemen came calling, anxious to speak with the president of what was, as far as they were concerned, on the brink of becoming a foreign country. For the moment, they all remained American citizens – and members of Congress, no less. But that was a mere technicality. As they strode up the steps to James Buchanan’s second-floor office, they carried themselves with a dignity befitting the founding fathers of a new nation: the independent Republic of South Carolina.The Carolinians’ mission that Saturday was...

It's clear that we can't go 24 hours without Sarah Palin saying something so stupid that it defies logic, but leave it to the Kim Kardashian of politics to find something wrong with first lady Michelle Obama's effort to curb obesity in America's kids.In a radio interview on Wednesday with conservative talker Laura Ingraham, Palin took dead aim at the first lady's "Let's Move" initiative, which is all about getting children active and involved in exercise and healthy eating.

THE latest bad news from the world of methamphetamine is that makers of the drug have perfected a one-pot recipe that enables them to manufacture their highly addictive product while on the move, often in their car. The materials they need — a two-liter soda bottle, a few cold pills and some household chemicals — are easily obtained and easily discarded, often in a trash bag dumped along the highway. There is, however, a simple way to end this mobile industry — and, indeed, most methamphetamine production. We’ve tried it in Oregon, and have seen how well it works. Just...

A popular and charismatic president in a time of great economic distress has large majorities in both the House and Senate. He tries to push through Congress a highly unpopular measure that, in the opinion of many, would have fundamentally altered the nature of the country. Meanwhile the economy was failing to recover. At the midterm elections, despite strenuous efforts on his part, he gets clobbered.Barack Obama in 2010? No, Franklin Roosevelt in 1938. Roosevelt had carried 46 states in 1936. But his attempt to "pack" the Supreme Court had run into ferocious opposition and was defeated. Meanwhile the economy,...

In offering himself as the next speaker of the House after last Tuesday’s sea-change election, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed of about 800 words. The word “debt” is not one of them, nor does the concept appear. That’s a bit odd, no? The debt is what the election was about: the growth-killing tab that runs up another $4 billion every day — even days when President Obama is not touring the Far East with 3,000 courtiers in his retinue. The debt, driven by unconstitutional and unsustainable federal intrusions into everything from how much carbon...

House G.O.P. Promises Open Amendment Process on all Spending Legislation Friday, November 05, 2010By Dan Joseph Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), head of GOP House transition team. (AP photo) (CNSNews.com) - Once Republicans take control of the House of Representatives this January, even minority Democrats will be able to offer amendments to reduce spending for all spending legislation that comes before the chamber -- something that was not allowed under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).This promise was reiterated on Thursday by Rep. Greg Walden(R-Ore.), who has been put in charge of the G.O.P House transition team, which will oversee the transfer of...

Republicans Not Serious If They Pick Bachus Over RoycePosted on November 4, 2010, 5:46PM | Tim CavanaughWhile Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), the most articulate critic of banking in American politics, is the only truly acceptable choice to become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, the pending chairmanship of Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) shows Republicans can't be trusted to deliver even on the mediocre promises of "art of the possible" politics.Bachus is next in line to accede to the chair of Financial Services. This is the committee to which Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke and wounded Treasury Secretary Tim...

Although the polls are still in flux, it looks increasingly likely that Republicans will win a big victory next Tuesday. But that doesn't mean that Americans have fallen in love with them. In fact, even as voters prepare to put Republicans in charge of the House and possibly even the Senate, polls show the Republican party to be only slightly more popular than used-car salesmen. A recent Pew poll showed that only 24 percent of voters approve of Republicans in Congress. Therefore, if this election is going to be the start of a long-term trend and not a one-time blip,...

More of the same "moderation" from politically-connected "moderate" Islamic groups. link

President Barack Obama's political adviser, David Plouffe, on Sunday called Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin the leaders of the Republican Party — and also a "problem" for the GOP in this fall's elections and beyond.Plouffe emphasized the "intolerance" and "extremism" of the tea party and of the right wing of the Republican Party as both a short-term and a long-term electoral problem for the moderate GOP, citing their attacks even on conservative senators such as Tom Coburn of Oklahoma as an example of how narrowly they have tailored their messaging and base."Right now — and this is a problem...

Almost 5 million California adults say they could use help with a mental or emotional problem, according to a survey released Wednesday by researchers at UCLA. About 1 million of them meet the criteria for "serious psychological distress." However, only one in three people who perceive a need for mental health services or are in serious distress have seen a professional for treatment, the survey found. The survey was conducted among more than 44,000 adults as part of the 2005 California Health Interview Survey, administered through the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Since the survey was conducted, the recession...

WASHINGTON – Federal checks could begin flowing again as early as next week to millions of jobless people who lost up to seven weeks of unemployment benefits in a congressional standoff.President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a restoration of benefits for people who have been out of work for six months or more. Congress approved the measure earlier in the day. The move ended an interruption that cut off payments averaging about $300 a week to 2 1/2 million people who have been unable to find work in the aftermath of the nation's long and deep recession.At stake...

Beijing's Coalition of the Willing For the West, failed states are a problem. For China, they're an opportunity. BY STEFAN HALPER | JULY/AUGUST 2010 You've probably heard by now that China, in its bid to lock in access to energy and mineral riches in far-flung corners of the world, is causing heartburn for the legions of do-gooders working to turn the world's most fragile countries into stable, prosperous states. Everyone from the president of the World Bank to Bono has blamed Chinese companies and government officials for threatening the hard-won progress the West has made in the global south, while...

Where Left Means Right What happens when political parties trend in the other direction? BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | JULY/AUGUST 2010 Ever since rival factions arranged themselves on opposite sides of a meeting hall during the French Revolution, the political meanings of the terms "left" and "right" have been pretty constant. Left-wingers everywhere like high taxes, big government, and social change. Right-wingers prefer low taxes, small government, and free markets. Except when they don't. Margit Tavits of Washington University and Natalia Letki of the University of Warsaw studied political parties in post-communist Eastern Europe for a recent article in the...

Washington – At Day 1 of her Senate confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan struck tones of modesty and restraint – the template for every nominee since Judge Robert Bork opted to go toe-to-toe with liberals on the Senate Judiciary panel in 1987 and was rejected. “The Supreme Court is a wondrous institution,” Ms. Kagan said in her opening statement. “But the time I spent in the other branches of government remind me that it must also be a modest one – properly deferential to the decisions of the American people and their elected representatives.” It is this time...

Politicians love to promote large-scale transit projects, and the Obama administration is no exception. The president's "Livability Initiative" strives to ensure that "transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change." But as Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation, and Adrian Moore, vice president of research at Reason Foundation, explain, the "Livability Agenda" largely consists of trying to push people out of their cars and onto trains and out of the suburbs and into cities. Poole and Moore dismantle the idea that a centralized, national transit system will reduce greenhouse gas emissions...

To my left-liberal Democrat friends: As you engage in intellectual dishonesty using Rand Paul’s silly comments on the 1964 Civil Rights Act to misrepresent libertarianism, perhaps you might want to consider a little history of the political philosophy of the founder of our party, Thomas Jefferson, the original libertarian. Let me help you escape your ignorance about libertarianism without a capital L, a political philosophy far from conservatism. As a child of the 1960s, I was one of you. I wore a “Madly for Adlai” button, delivered Kennedy brochures on my newspaper route, and defended Medicare in speech class. Growing...