Free Republic

A potential shortlist going off this last congressional period and the bizarre antics from the minority party, many of whom got acclaim for idiocy during congressional investigations into the IRS scandal among other things. CHARLIE RANGEL (NY-13) - Has been going overboard on the race card recently with insane accusations against Obama's opponents that almost reach James Clyburn levels of acclaim. Clearly angry Dems got their butts whooped, he's been indicted more times than I've had hot meals. GERRY CONNOLLY (VA-11) - He looks like a fool. He is a fool. He doesn't think the IRS did anything. A butterball...

The retirement of two of Nancy Pelosi's closest confidants is raising questions about whether the House Democratic leader's reign could be nearing an end. The pending departures of Reps. George Miller and Henry Waxman mean Pelosi will have to do without her most trusted lieutenants if she decides to run again as Democratic leader. The two fellow California Democrats helped engineer the major achievements of her speakership on healthcare and climate change, and could be counted on during good times and bad. One former Democratic leadership aide described the loss as “a substantial changing of the guard” – a transition...

Congressman Tom Rice of South Carolina, a Republican, is sponsoring a resolution in the House of Representatives that would, if adopted, direct the legislative body "to bring a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief to challenge certain policies and actions taken by the executive branch." In other words, Rep. Rice wants to take President Obama to court for not faithfully executing the laws. "President Obama has adopted a practice of picking and choosing which laws he wants to enforce. In most cases, his laws of choice conveniently coincide with his Administration’s political agenda. Our Founding Fathers created the Executive...

Operating through an “emergency and health services” protocol, congressional representatives, senators, their staff, credentialed journalists, other credentialed media personnel, and U.S. Capitol Police are still receiving free flu shots at health units in the Capitol and at locations in office buildings. … According to a “Contingency Staffing Plan for Operations” for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, page 3, the partial government shutdown will, however, prevent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from performing its role to protect the citizenry from influenza. …

There is a debt of service due from every man to his country, proportioned to the bounties which nature and fortune have measured to him. Thomas Jefferson Have you ever wondered what is meant by the term ‘public servants?’ I suppose these days it depends on who is either using or misusing the term. If you look at any of the signers of the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution, you will see men who believed in public service. And I will show you examples of this. I have absolutely no doubt the founding fathers of this nation knew...

Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to slavery. Thomas Jefferson Has our Legislative branch of government become a mere legislature for the legislators? The only time either side of the aisle seems to be in agreement is when they legislate for themselves. Of course in regard to partisan politics the results are more egregious. But when it comes to the people of the United...

Things got tense at Monday’s Forum Club of the Palm Beaches meeting when sparks flew between guest speakers Ted Deutch and Allen West. The two congressmen were scheduled to speak in front of a few hundred guests at the Palm Beach County Convention Center for 10 minutes each on the Affordable Care Act, then take questions from the audience. The festivities began cordially enough, with the gentlemen displaying mutual respect for each other, but the day took a turn for the ugly

The Iraqi government has expelled six US congressmen from the country. The decision was so shocking to the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, that only 24 hours later the US embassy declared that the congressmen had made personal statements. What raised the Iraqis' anger was a request by these congressmen that Iraq pays a portion -- and even up to a half -- of the expense of the US occupation of this country. The US delegation of congressmen had also requested a visit to Camp Ashraf, whish was also opposed by Iraqi authorities. This decision of the Iraqis...

Stupid enough to think that any Democrats want to be 'friends'?

Some members of Congress are so mys tified by the ObamaCare bill they just passed that they had to ask their own research service whether the new law applies to them, too. And guess what? The Congressional Research Service couldn't figure it out either. The agency wrote an 8,100-word memo explaining that it could not "definitively resolve" whether lawmakers and staffers can retain their current coverage. That's because the provision affecting those on Capitol Hill is "unclear" and filled with "ambiguities." Anyone surprised? After all, the final bill was 2,700 pages long. It's doubtful that a single member actually read...

On Tuesday, the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page amendment that would require all Members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health plan. It took me less than a minute to sign up to require our president, congressmen and senators to drink at the same trough!Three cheers for Congressman John Fleming of Louisiana ! Congressman John Fleming ( Louisiana physician) has proposed an amendment that would require Obama,congressmen and senators to take the same healthcare plan they force on us (underproposed legislation they are curiously exempt). Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go...

Last week I wrote Carol Che-Porter, Rat New Hampshire, if she was going to drop the Congressional Health plan and join the peons if the Goverment Takeover passed. After waithing a week and getting no answer I wrote this follow up letter Dear Congressman: I wrote you over a week ago on the issue of whether you were going to foregoe the Congressional health plan and accept coverage under the Obamma plan if it is voted in. I have not heard from you, so I think that you are going with the former rather than the latter. I am going...

Health Reform: If Democrats in Washington think their health care reform with a public option is a good thing, why have they exempted themselves from it? Why isn't what's good for their constituents good for them?During ABC's June 24 infomercial for government-run health care broadcast from the White House, President Obama was asked if he and his family would abide by the restrictions and limitations that came with his proposed reforms. In what Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com called "Obama's Michael Dukakis moment," President Obama refused to make such a pledge and confessed that if "it's my family member, if it's...

Eight activists protesting the expulsion of aid groups in Darfur have been arrested in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington. Humanitarian leaders and five U.S. lawmakers, including Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards, were led away in handcuffs Monday from the embassy after crossing a police line. The activists are urging world leaders to take a stand against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's decision to expel 16 aid agencies from Darfur.

Darn the market! They should appreciate that Americans still have influence on their congressmen and are for a free market rather than socialism!

BASRA, Iraq – A congressional delegation visited the Multi-National Division – South East headquarters in Basra, Iraq, July 21 while on a fact-finding mission during a trip through the area.  Senators Jack Reed, D-R.I., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., arrived at Basra Air Station on an Air Force C-130. They were escorted by Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander, Multi-National Corps – Iraq, and Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph R. Allen, command sergeant major, MNC-I.   The senators met with MND-SE leaders and Iraqi Army leaders, Lt. Gen. Mohammad, commander, Basra operations, and Maj. Gen. Aziz, commander, 14th Iraqi Army...

Follow the Money: Towards Treason Written by Melanie Morgan    Wednesday, 26 March 2008 And now for our trip in today's Way Back Time Machine.Let's visit Iraq, shall we? That's where three United States Congressmen traveled in 2002, in the days before the Bush administration launched a war to depose Saddam Hussein, sparking a huge controversy.  Following Ben Bradlee's excellent advice to Woodward and Bernstein during the Watergate era to 'follow the money', the Associated Press has learned that Saddam Hussein's secret agents financed the trip towards treason.          "An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a...

BESMAYA — Senator John Ensign (R-NV), Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) visited members of the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq and Iraqi military, Feb. 10. The intent of their visit was to meet with U.S. and Iraqi government leaders. The group of congressional representatives visited the Besmaya Range Complex where Iraqi Army Col. Abbas, base commanding officer, provided them with a briefing about the complex. They then viewed the BMP-1 Driver Instruction Course and the M-16 firing range. “I am very impressed with the improvement of military capability,” said Senator Coburn. Coburn participated in the...

Half a dozen freshman Democrats took to the House floor one late-October morning to cast their lot with Republicans. Their actions went unpunished by the Democratic leadership that day, as they have on many other occasions in recent weeks. The symbolic gesture -- casting nay votes on approving the House Journal, essentially the minutes of the previous day -- would have no bearing on the leadership's agenda. While they overwhelmingly support that agenda, the bloc of freshmen has begun casting votes against such minor procedural motions in an effort, Democratic sources and Republican critics say, to demonstrate their independence from...

Congressmen press Justice to test Sandy BergerStill no polygraph as agreed in plea deal, 'national security' at issue Posted: October 12, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Two years after agreeing to a polygraph in a plea deal, former National Security adviser Sandy Berger still has not taken the test, prompting 23 Republican Congress members to demand action by the Department of Justice. The aim is to determine "what documents were stolen and how our national security was compromised," said the letter by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., to the acting attorney general. Berger – who was placed on probation,...