Free Republic

Even before she retired last week, scandalized IRS official Lois Lerner's compensation was already attracting attention. While on administrative leave, federal rules allowed her to keep collecting a salary, one that reportedly totaled $177,000. So it was no surprise when speculation arose over how much Lerner could collect in federal pension benefits. Unfortunately, that speculation, which initially projected a benefit of over $50,000, might be off by about half ... and in the wrong direction. National Taxpayers Union calculations show that Lerner could qualify for a starting pension at the annual equivalent of as much as $102,600, and up to...

Sometimes it is better to show a scandal than to explain it. SHARE this exposure of the Benghazi cover-up!

Leo Johnson, a black man, has never received an apology from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Not a word. Which is passing strange for a group that proclaims itself to be “a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.” Johnson, the African-American building manager and security guard for the Family Research Council (FRC) was shot and wounded last August 15 by an angry gay activist, Floyd Corkins. Corkins was angry over the FRC’s support for heterosexual marriage. Researching the group on the Internet, he found that...

After nearly two weeks of heated debate over whether President Obama should attack Republican Mitt Romney’s tenure at a private-equity firm, Democratic leaders across the country say they are largely united behind the strategy, even as some concede an uncertain outcome and new polls show Obama has lost ground nationally. The Democratic leaders, in numerous interviews over the last week, said they are hearing little or no resistance among the party faithful in their states to a strategy that Republicans have characterized as anti-capitalist. And Obama has no plans to back off; his campaign will roll out more stories in...

It’s not exactly Detective Comics #27, or a first printing of the Gutenberg Bible (who knew the Police Academy movies were so rich in religious subtext?), but Friday night saw the release of the inaugural Obama For America Truth Team Tip Sheet, a collection of political bullets for supporters to fire at the watercooler, and into the social media stratosphere. Now, I just need to figure out how to get an email into a durable, acid-free plastic sleeve. The “Truth Team,” rolled out earlier this week, is this year’s version of the President’s 2008 campaign “Fight the Smears” site,

WASHINGTON - Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and six other Democrats charged Tuesday that modern political campaigns - and democracy itself - are threatened by a pair of "awful" Supreme Court decisions that can only be fixed by changing the U.S. Constitution itself. The senators said during a news conference that adding a new provision to the Constitution is necessary if Congress wants to nullify a 1976 ruling that said campaign spending was the same as free speech and a 2010 ruling that removed all limits on campaign spending for special interests, corporations and labor unions. "In the mid-70s the activist...

Many liberals in the media are expressing shock over Obama’s apparent willingness to increase oil production.  We all know that he is full of …, I mean ethanol, and they do too. Those of you who were befuddled at the news that Obama will ‘expand drilling’ in Alaska are not missing anything.  Obama has pulled this political chicanery a number of times.  Whenever a specific proposal that he so adamantly opposes becomes too popular to ignore, he announces his support for it by promising to implement inconsequential reforms.  To that end, he declared during his Saturday radio address that he...

<p>Democrats are considering cramming as many as 20 pieces of legislation into the lame-duck session they plan to hold after the Nov. 2 election.</p> <p>The array of bills competing for floor time shows the sense of urgency among Democratic lawmakers to act before the start of the 112th Congress, when Republicans are expected to control more seats in the Senate and House.</p>

For the second time in less than a month, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has painted a bull's eye on a Minnesota Republican, targeting Rep. Michele Bachmann. The Democrats' "Call 'Em Out" Internet campaign was launched last month, featuring Gov. Tim Pawlenty's criticisms of President Obama's plans to overhaul the nation's health care system. The new posting, launched today, lambastes Bachmann's similar criticisms of the health care bills moving through Congress. "Too many Americans live with the painful consequences of our broken health care system to let Bachmann's reckless lies go unchecked," the Democrats said in an e-mail. "So this...

Lampson, Olson stake claims on Political Spectrum Houston Chronicle (Endorses both Lampson and Obama - FlA) by Alan Berstein October 22, 2008 Abstract: Rascally liberal Jim Hightower, the former Texas agriculture commissioner, gets credit for the phrase, "There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos." Key questions in the Houston-area race between Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson and Republican former Senate aide Pete Olson are whether Lampson has earned his middle-of-the-road stripes — and whether his political career will die there Nov. 4. Lampson has tried to relieve the odd fit ever since, saying...