Free Republic

Yesterday, New Orleans Democrat and Congressional candidate state Rep. Juan LaFonta nearly managed to sneak through a concurrent resolution in the Louisiana House of Representatives which would have asked Congress to investigate Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for a “slow response” to the Gulf oil spill. The bill, HCR 144, which would normally have gone through a committee but for some reason did not, reached the floor yesterday amid a host of other bills gaining little attention from the assembled legislators in the House. And for some reason House Speaker Jim Tucker, not to mention the rest of the Republican delegation...

This week we’ve seen a flurry of supercharged rhetoric coming out of the Left after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a bill which, though described in apocalyptic terms, merely seeks to strengthen state law on immigration. The bill, Brewer and Arizonans as a whole have been described as racists, Nazis, totalitarians, idiots and worse (if that’s possible). President Barack Obama, who last month abdicated the responsibility given his office to install a “virtual fence” along the border, called the bill “misguided” before issuing a call to “African Americans, Latinos, women and young people” to get out and vote...

This is a developing situation, and we’ll be updating it continuously as we learn more. But in a series of events which went almost completely unreported and unknown throughout the weekend’s SRLC doings, it appears that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief fundraiser Alexandra “Allee” Bautsch and her boyfriend Joe Brown were severely beaten in the French Quarter after a fundraiser Friday night.

In a statement which would indicate his opposition to the poisonously-unpopular Obamacare bill was less based on principle and more a sop to Louisiana’s voters, Rep. Charlie Melancon told POLITICO yesterday that he’s not in favor of repealing the legislation.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. So reads the oath of office for all members of Congress, an oath which is in the process of being broken by the current Speaker of the...

While the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce awaits responses to letters it sent to natural gas producers as a precursor to hearings later this month on whether federal regulation is warranted on hydraulic fracturing, Louisiana’s congressional delegation and state legislators are taking a very vigorous and aggressive stance in fighting Washington’s attempts to interfere with the promise of the mammoth Haynesville Shale natural gas play and the coming energy boom it can mean for the state.

Howard Wolfson, a very savvy Democrat political operative, was recently quoted as frustrated that the ability to blame all of our current economic troubles on George W. Bush is not working for President Obama. He noted that his party was able to run against Republican Herbert Hoover’s Depression-era presidency for 30 years. “That doesn’t seem to be the case here,” he said.

Let’s preface this piece by admitting that I’m a fan of Bobby Jindal, comparatively speaking. No, I don’t think he’s presidential or vice-presidential timber at this point. Cabinet secretary, perhaps, but not much beyond that without a bit more experience. I do think Jindal gets a bad rap from people looking to criticize him for all kinds of ulterior motives (and certainly some valid ones as well), and I think regardless of what anybody might think of Jindal he’s far and away the best governor this state has had in the past 25 years or beyond and he’s the best...

“To stimulate the economy and create jobs at no cost to the taxpayers, and without borrowing money from foreign governments for which our children and grandchildren will be responsible, and for other purposes.” So reads the introduction to HR 1431, a piece of legislation that was introduced in the House of Representatives on March 11, 2009 by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT). Identical legislation was introduced in the Senate as S-570 by Senators Vitter (R-LA) and Shadegg (R-AZ) soon after. David Vitter renewed his call for this legislation to be debated today.

Those readers of the Hayride who decry our writings as partisan with an axe to grind against the Obama administration will find the headline of this piece rather shocking, but the fact is that Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan’s quote over the weekend identifying that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing that could have happened to the public schools in New Orleans was an insightful and accurate remark Duncan should not have to shrink from. Duncan shrank from it today.

In what seems a stinging rebuke to the federal policies of bailing out auto companies enacted by President Barack Obama last year, Ford Motor Company announced today that they managed to make a $2.7 billion profit in 2009.

March 17, 2009 Exclusive: Fined and Sanctioned for Seeking Truth about Obama's Eligibility? Margaret Calhoun Hemenway John D. Hemenway, Esq., filed yesterday, Monday, March 16th, in U.S. District Court, his mandated reply by court order in the ongoing lawsuit to determine Barack Hussein Obama's (aka Barry Soetoro) eligibility to serve as President of the United States. The Judge, James Robertson, a Clinton appointee, ordered the response to his dismissal of the lawsuit, and threat to impose sanctions on Mr. Hemenway, to be submitted within a scant 11 days. http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2762/pub_detail.asp

Ann Coulter’s latest book exposes the growing group of liberal- and media-appointed victims – a dangerous trend that threatens American security because it weakens the will to stand up and fight back against enemies abroad and at home.

Participants at a trade conference in Turkey were swapping ideas on how to best exploit trade with the U.S. to bolster their own domestic economies. Why is it “wrong” for the U.S. to do the same?

Would an improvement in the financial situation in impoverished Islamic nations, via aid from Western nations, cause Islamists to abandon their dreams of conquest and establishing a global Caliphate?

Why former presidents should stick to philanthropy – for the sake of our nation, and their reputations.

Ready for hope? Ready for change? Or do you just want to say “fuhgeddaboudit?”

If you think the Islamists have given up, think again…

Has political expediency replaced national security as a top priority in the Oval Office?

Leaders of the Council for American-Islamic Relations characterize themselves as “peace doves.” Is this description accurate?