Free Republic

I've been here a year or two.The demands of the fundraisers have gone up and up.While I have no dispute of Jim's numbers as up front, they have gone governmental.Look closely at the budget. Decide for yourself.

The following is a statement by Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) on the so- called “Blackout Day” protesting anti-piracy legislation: “Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together, some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem toagree is very real and...

I clicked on Real Time With Bill Maher on Xfinity and, wow, Herman Cain is fronting for Romney BIG TIME!I'm disappointed.

The four young friends mugged for the camera, holding fistfuls of cash, candy and cigarettes, then posted the photos on Facebook for all to see. Just one more example of a generation hooked on social media. Except there was a problem. Police said the teens stole the hefty loot -- worth more than $9,000 -- only an hour earlier from Elliott's Town Market, where the surveillance footage of them running through the closed store seemed damning enough. Detectives on Wednesday said they had charged three of the juveniles -- two 14-year-olds and a 17-year-old -- and were searching for a...

(as published in Michael Lewis' "Boomerang"): "Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress."

[snip] The plan calls for about $4.5 billion a year raised by the Universal Service Fund—a line item buried in the fine print of most people's phone bills—to be redirected to the broadband effort from conventional phone service. But there is a catch: Some phone companies, projecting they would end up losers under a revised system for interconnection fees they charge each other for delivering calls, wanted to make up the losses somehow. They persuaded regulators to allow a new consumer fee, which is separate from the Universal Service Fund charge. The new levy starts at up to 50 cents...

When my friend Brian told me the American tax police were after him, I thought he must be nuts. Brian is a worrier. He gets a little paranoid sometimes. “We haven’t filed a U.S. tax return in 20 years,” he said. “Now our accountant says we have to – or else.” Brian and his wife are from the States. He took out Canadian citizenship years ago. They’ve lived and worked in Canada for decades. They have no U.S. income or assets. They are 100-per-cent tax compliant – in Canada. “Forget about it,” I advised. “What could they possibly do to...

September 2011 Dear Starbucks Friend and Fellow Citizen: I love our country. And I am a beneficiary of the promise of America. But today, I am very concerned that at times I do not recognize the America that I love. Like so many of you, I am deeply disappointed by the pervasive failure of leadership in Washington. And also like you, I am frustrated by our political leaders' steadfast refusal to recognize that, for every day they perpetuate partisan conflict and put ideology over country, America and Americans suffer from the combined effects of paralysis and uncertainty. Americans can't find...

September 2011 Dear Starbucks Friend and Fellow Citizen: I love our country. And I am a beneficiary of the promise of America. But today, I am very concerned that at times I do not recognize the America that I love. Like so many of you, I am deeply disappointed by the pervasive failure of leadership in Washington. And also like you, I am frustrated by our political leaders' steadfast refusal to recognize that, for every day they perpetuate partisan conflict and put ideology over country, America and Americans suffer from the combined effects of paralysis and uncertainty. Americans can't find...

Five minute YouTube clip

Dear Glenn, Even the mainstream media is starting to notice that Newt Gingrich is making a comeback. Check out this article in US News and World Report labeling Newt the next 'comeback kid.' "The big-thinking Republican, his supporters, and presidential political experts sense that Gingrich...is on the way back. The reason for the emerging Newt 2.0? His effective performance in the last debate that inspired supporters to boost online donations after he assailed the deficit "super committee" while spelling out detailed solutions to fixing the economy." This article is more evidence that our campaign's strategy is working. While other candidates...

A small political gathering of about 18 liberal thinkers at River Forks Park Sunday afternoon erupted in conflict when about 35 members of the conservative tea party intruded upon the meeting, waving flags and holding signs accusing the rival group of being communists, Marxists and socialists. The liberal group — organized by MoveOn.org — decided to leave the park and move its potluck to a nearby home. Members of the conservative group followed, parking at the entrance of a private lane leading to the home to continue their protest. Roseburg Democrats Dean and Sara Byers said Monday they told tea...

I upgraded both of my Macs to Lion this afternoon. Time to install and reboot (each): 40 minutes After reboot: Took about 30 minutes to upgrade my mail. Could do nothing while that happened. Once the mail was processed, the system fully started. Spotlight began reindexing in the background and it took a lot of CPU. Everything was running slow. Mail seemed to be the target of the Spotlight reindex. Some notables: Launch pad is great for an old man like me. Looking at those itty bitty icons in the application list was getting harder. The new scrolling took a...

A Port Authority bus driver stabbed six times during Downtown rush hour Thursday night in an altercation with an unruly group of passengers remained in stable condition at UPMC Mercy this morning. The driver, age 47, has been with the transit agency since 2006, spokesman Jim Ritchie said. His name has not been released. At around 6 p.m. last night, the driver ejected a group of young men and women from his outbound 67 Monroeville bus at Fifth Avenue and Market Street, after repeatedly telling them to stop disturbing other passengers. A man in the group proceeded to spit and...

I'm getting a lot of phone calls these days.Newt seems to be the source of most of them.I tossed him $100 on a Saturday morning after a hard night of drinking and hanging out at FR. He immediately gave my email address to a few hundred thousand of his closest friends.Now, between 8 and 9 PM, I get a call from some conservative group grubbing for money. Here are my tips for deciding whether they are worthy or not.1) Ask who their CEO is. If they say "Rush Limbaugh", might as well ask them "What are you wearing?" and hang...

When Gary Adams heard a series of "booms" early Thursday, he figured one of the kids had left the TV on overnight. He had no idea, he said Friday, that law enforcement agents were about to flood his Bellevue house, looking for an accused member of the Manchester OGs gang who once lived there. A few clock ticks later, agents broke open all three doors into his Orchard Avenue home, shattering glass. Then some 15 Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and state and local police entered his home. "When I hit that bend and turned," he said, pointing toward the...

WASHINGTON -- Several times in 2009 and 2010, throngs of tea party protesters stood outside the U.S. Capitol complex airing their grievances with the government. On Thursday, they strolled right in. The inaugural meeting of the Senate Tea Party Caucus brought a few dozen activists -- a turnout likely dimmed by the previous night's snowstorm -- and only a handful of senators to a hearing room in a Senate office building. But it was a sign, according to caucus leader and freshman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that the tea party is "co-opting Washington." Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., spoke to the...