Free Republic

On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan. The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance.

The housing market across the nation, including here in South Florida, is seeing home value depreciation accelerate. The latest numbers from Zillow.com show that the current housing recession is quickly approaching the Depression-era housing collapse from 1928-1933. Nationally, home values are 25 percent below their peak after 51 months of declines. The worst long-term home price appreciation was from the end of 1928 to the end of 1933, or 60 months.

10. Nobody can stuff a ballot box like Obama can. 9. Did you ever sleep in the Lincoln bedroom? 8. Obama wanna be your Barack-door man. 7. Obama can go down faster than the economy. 6. You want to see my latest stimulus package? 5. Once you go Barack, you'll never go back. 4. I'm so flexible that I can lie in any position. 3. Obama loves Falafels. 2. I'm just too big to fail. 1. You'll scream like Howard Dean.

Larry and Sergey founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology. And one of the big problems we’re working on today is car safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use. So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. They’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific...

TALLAHASSEE - Alex Sink's attempt to rebut campaign allegations by Republican gubernatorial opponent Rick Scott that she fiddled while Florida's investment portfolio burned was bolstered by an unlikely ally Tuesday: Florida Attorney General and former Scott foe Bill McCollum. Days after Scott unleashed allegations that Sink was at fault for an investment freefall, Scott's former Republican rival McCollum appeared to go out of his way Tuesday to steer the state's top investment official to provide cover for the State Board of Administration's investment oversight during the tumultuous years following the 2007 market crash. In a series of questions, McCollum led...

Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas) accused the administration of being too lax in its enforcement of drug laws. President Obama's drug policies are encouraging increased marijuana use, a top Republican lawmaker charged Tuesday. Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas), the top Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee who would likely become chairman of the committee under a GOP majority, accused the administration of being too lax in its enforcement of drug laws. "The administration is clearly sending the message that they don't think it's bad to use marijuana," Smith said on Fox News. "So they're encouraging the use of marijuana. And that...

President Obama signed the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act this afternoon, ending the mandatory federal contracting award preference a business operating in a Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) has long held over a competing Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). This change in the law is expected to help level the playing field for service-disabled veterans seeking opportunities to do business with the federal government. Prior to the passage of this legislation, small businesses located in economically depressed areas (HUBZones) were required to be given a price evaluation preference over other businesses submitting proposals in response to a federal contract...

Jose and Carlos are both beggars. They beg in different areas of town. Carlos begs for the same amount of time as Jose, but only collects about eight or nine dollars a day. Every day, Jose brings home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills. He drives a Mercedes, lives in a mortgage-free house, and has lots of cash to spend. "Hey, amigo," Carlos says to Jose, "I work just as long and hard as you do, so how come you bring home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills every day?" Jose says, "Look at your sign, what does...

The socio-economic preferences for contract awards are currently extended to service-disabled veteran owned small businesses (SDVOSB), businesses qualified under the Small Business Administration's 8(a) Business Development Program and businesses located in historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones). While businesses in each of these groups are entitled to special consideration for the award of federal contracts, the FAR only provides HUBZone businesses with mandatory preferences in contract awards exceeding the simplified acquisitions price threshhold, which currently stands at $100,000 and which will rise to $150,000 on October 1st of this year... The Small Business Jobs Act, passed by the United States Senate...

The scientific literature is clear that marijuana is addictive and that its use significantly impairs bodily and mental functions. Marijuana use is associated with memory loss, cancer, immune system deficiencies, heart disease, and birth defects, among other conditions. Even where decriminalized, marijuana trafficking remains a source of violence, crime, and social disintegration. Nonetheless, this November, California voters will consider a ballot initiative, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 (RCTCA),[2] that would legalize most marijuana distribution and use under state law. (These activities would remain federal crimes.) This vote is the culmination of an organized campaign by pro-marijuana...

(NECN) - Secretary of state Hillary Clinton is now weighing in on a Florida pastor's controversial plan to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of September 11th. She's echoing remarks from general David Petraeus that it would endanger American troops abroad. "I am heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act that has come from American religious leaders of all faiths, from evangelical Christians, to Jewish rabbis, as well as secular U.S. leaders and opinion makers."

Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle just might be the Tea Party's biggest gamble yet. A staunch conservative with a history of making bold and sometimes controversial comments, Angle insists her comments have been taken out of context in her campaign to oust Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in upcoming midterm congressional elections. "I'll be a mainstream senator," said Angle.

Although Alaska’s Libertarian Party has already voted against allowing GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski to run for another Senate term as the Libertarian candidate, discussions have occurred since then, the Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday... Alaska Libertarian Party Chairman Scott Kohlhaas told the Anchorage Daily News that talks about a Murkowski bid are ongoing, despite the executive committee’s vote last month.

Richard Winger, one of the nation’s leading experts on third-party and independent candidates, is reporting at Ballot Access News that John Wayne Smith, the Libertarian candidate for governor, will not be on the ballot come November. The secretary of state removed Smith due to incomplete paperwork. Smith was to have been the first gubernatorial candidate running on the Libertarian line in Florida’s history.

In her journal circa 1928 Rand quoted the statement, "What is good for me is right," a credo attributed to a prominent figure of the day, William Edward Hickman. Her response was enthusiastic. "The best and strongest expression of a real man's psychology I have heard," she exulted. At the time, she was planning a novel that was to be titled The Little Street, the projected hero of which was named Danny Renahan. According to Rand scholar Chris Matthew Sciabarra, she deliberately modeled Renahan - intended to be her first sketch of her ideal man - after this same William...

This past spring, the Financial Industry Inquiry Commission held hearings on the world's recent financial crisis. The star witness was Alan Greenspan. The Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan translated Greenspan's typically elusive testimony this way: "I didn't do anything wrong, and neither did Ayn Rand by the way, but next time you might try more regulation." There were obviously many reasons for the Great Recession. But I believe Noonan got to the root of one particular evil. Fortune magazine once labeled Greenspan "America's most famous libertarian, an Ayn Rand acolyte." (While Rand formally rejected libertarianism, libertarians nonetheless admire her.)...

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum still has "serious questions" about gubernatorial opponent Rick Scott's "character, his integrity, his honesty," and he does not plan to endorse Scott as the GOP candidate for governor. McCollum confirmed to reporters Thursday that he called Scott Wednesday "to congratulate him and wish him well." Asked whether he would consider endorsing Scott, McCollum replied: “I still have serious questions and I have had them throughout the time that I’ve had the very brief acquaintanceship with Rick Scott about issues of his character, his integrity, his honesty, things that go back to Columbia/HCA.”

Matthew Palazzolo, who works for a Sacramento law firm and has a California medical marijuana card, was arrested in Tahoe for selling a quarter pound to an undercover. Palazzola grew the herb himself and netted $1,060 for the transaction. The subject of the paper is to be the "nonsensical character" of the California medical marijuana program.

As more states consider copying Arizona’s harsh anti-immigration law, at least one state’s GOP leaders decided against taking a stance on the measure. The California Republican party did not endorse Arizona’s SB 1070 during its semiannual convention this weekend, despite a push for a vote of support by conservative activists in the state. The party skipped over a resolution that would have stated the party’s support for SB 1070 and Proposition 187, a 1994 effort to cut public benefits to undocumented immigrants. But gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has stated opposition to both SB 1070 and Proposition 187, and there was...

FOUR Lions, a British film directed by Chris Morris, is a satire on Islamic jihadism and its murderous ambitions. The film is tasteless and offensive. It will be especially offensive to jihadists. It is also very funny... Omar (Riz Ahmed), their unofficial leader, spends time in a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. His boys have a lot to learn. They order their supplies of silver nitrate through Amazon and think that swallowing their SIM cards will make their mobile phones untraceable. Their idea of a joke is to bake a "twin towers cake" and leave it in a synagogue. Faisal...