Free Republic

Democrats will return to power in Congress with a lengthy list of expensive priorities and a pledge to pay for them. Some budget experts say the dual goals don't add up. Democratic leaders have endorsed an ambitious agenda that includes fortifying the military, improving homeland security, helping veterans, making college more affordable, establishing energy independence and boosting private savings rates. Annual tab: at least $79 billion, according to the National Taxpayers Union, a group opposed to higher taxes. They also want to protect 20 million upper middle-income taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax. It was originally designed to ensure the...

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid announced Monday he is amending his ethics reports to Congress to more fully account for a land deal that allowed him to collect $1.1 million for property he hadn't personally owned for three years. Reid acted several days after The Associated Press reported the senator didn't disclose to Congress that he first sold the land to a friend's company back in 2001 and took an ownership stake in the company. He didn't collect the seven-figure payout until the company sold the land again in 2004 to others. Reid said his amended ethics reports will list...

Sign of Hypocrisy -- A Georgia Democrat uses the Confederate battle flag to get electedBy Sarah Maserati, NR Associate Editor In December, a judge threw out the results of the November 5 election in Georgia in which a Republican narrowly defeated the Democratic incumbent for a statehouse seat. (The judge cited irregularities that led to voters' casting ballots in the wrong district.) Facing an uphill three-week repeat campaign, Snow, the Democratic incumbent, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "I may just have to put up signs using poster board, saying 'Snow in January.'" His campaign was a little more creative than that,...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A key Senate Democrat predicted Sunday that congressional inquiries into intelligence failures before the September 11 attacks would reveal "a pattern" of investigators failing to share key information.</p> <p>"There were a number of bits and pieces, and they weren't put together," Sen. Diane Feinstein said on CNN's "Late Edition." "There were several things that could have been investigated, had investigation been looked at as a way to go, which it wasn't."</p>