Free Republic

LOS ANGELES — California has reached the breaking point. Or so says Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is pushing a proposal to crack the nation's most populous state into pieces. Six of them, in this case. California has grown so big, so divided, it's essentially ungovernable, according to a ballot initiative that could reach voters in November. It has to go. "Vast parts of our state are poorly served by a representative government," according to Draper's plan, which cleared a key government hurdle this week to qualify for the ballot. California residents "would be better served by...

WASHINGTON - Former Sen. Conrad Burns is no longer part of a federal investigation of jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Burns, R-Mont., narrowly lost re-election to a fourth term in 2006 after Democrats made his relationship with Abramoff a central issue. Abramoff is the key figure in a corruption investigation that has led to convictions of a former congressman, legislative aides, lobbyists and officials in the Bush administration. Burns said in a statement that he "never doubted that the baseless and politically motivated charges leveled against me would be found to be without merit." "My family...

The new Democratic-led Congress has a 16 percent approval rating - no better than the rating of the Republican-led Congress a year ago - no doubt because voters see members clamoring to score points in the never-ending game of partisan gotcha instead of working to do what is best for the country. When a politician does try to do what is right, there is too often more downside than upside. Consider the cheap shots that have come the way of Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Chuck Schumer of New York because they voted to confirm the nomination of...

Confronting a dire outlook for next year’s elections, House Republicans have begun to fight back with a new three-pronged strategy: painting the new Democratic majority as part of an unpopular Washington status quo, forcing Democrats to make unpopular votes on tough issues and locking arms around a new GOP issues agenda. House Republicans might well be expected to be watching their better-funded, in some cases cocky, Democratic competitors from the fetal position.

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is involved in a scandal that so far the media has completely ignored. David Keene Reports The problems stem from her subcommittee activities from 2001 to late 2005, when she quit. During that period the public record suggests she knowingly took part in decisions that eventually put millions of dollars into her husband’s pocket — the classic conflict of interest that exploited her position and power to channel money to her husband’s companies.

Political discourse has become so rotten that it's no longer possible to tell the stench of one presidential candidate from the stink of another. They all give off the same skunk whiff. Would-be chief executives and their staffs shovel madly in the manure pile of foreign and domestic policy. Rhetorical flatulence renders their positions on the global warming debate moot. And the smell gets worse as the recycling center that is the 2008 election approaches. Or am I wrong? This campaign has been going on forever. The flipping and flopping and spin is making me bandwagon-sick. Electoral nausea causes everything...

Earlier this year, I wrote that congressional Democrats would disappoint their liberal base because "holding power means compromise." I was wrong. Democrats are doing their level best to please their radical leftist constituencies, and it's worse than we thought. In their first 100 days in control of Congress, they have introduced legislation that would cripple small business, surrender in Iraq, socialize our medical care and extend the redundant hypocrisy of "hate crimes" to gays. The Dems recently passed the "Employee Free Choice Act" through the House. This Communist-inspired legislation (no kidding...the Communist Party USA has proudly endorsed it) removes a...

Are Democrats Above the Law? Yesterday, the AP reported that all charges had been dropped against Phillip Thompson, an aide to Senator Jim Webb who was arrested on March 26, 2007 after Capitol Police spotted a loaded pistol and two loaded magazines during a routine X-Ray scan of Senator Webb’s briefcase at the entrance to the Russell Senate office building. District of Columbia law prohibits carrying a handgun or concealed weapon without a license. U. S. Attorney Jeff Taylor announced that “…we do not believe that the essential elements of the crime of carrying a pistol without a license can...

Leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, has said the US has lost the Iraq war, and Bush's troop surge has failed...... "I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid stated. The same comments were made to President Bush when he had convened with senior lawmakers to persuade them to pass the emergency war funding bill. Congress is trying to confine the war spending bill to a timetable for the removal of troops from Iraq. Reid's comments...

Stalinist Democrat, a hard left turn Marie Jon' April 15, 2007 During the Vietnam era the Democrat Party became hard and strident... millions of innocent Vietnamese people died. The far-left Democrats — who now control Congress — have done it again. They have taken an even harder turn to the left, and no one can seem to reach or appease them. The Democrat Party's leftward leanings were apparent during those years. The party included anti-war candidates such as Bobby Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. The congressional Democrats blatantly put a stop to "all aid" to "our allies in southeast...

Nancy Pelosi’s recent trip to Syria represents more than a partisan jab at the Bush Administration and its policies. It goes to the very heart of the constitutional foundation of our republic! While Harry Reid is waving the Constitution in our faces – citing the independent power of the legislative branch of government – he conveniently diminishes the constitutional authority of the Presidency with his statement that the Democrats represent the people, while the President DOES NOT! The Democrats, and particularly Pelosi and Reid, have apparently forgotten Constitution 101. The power to set Foreign Policy resides ONLY in the Presidency....

During the fall congressional campaigns, Republicans raised the specter of what "San Francisco liberal" Nancy Pelosi would do as speaker should the Democrats win control of the House. Now, after three months in the role, Pelosi has become the marquee player in a nightly passion play -- as the Democrat Republicans most love to hate. The latest episode in what has become an increasingly vociferous anti-Pelosi firestorm: her public discussion at the side of San Mateo Rep. Tom Lantos, Democratic chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who suggested at a press conference Tuesday that a trip to Iran to talk...

The White House reiterated on Wednesday its objection to plans by Democratic leaders of Congress to visit Iran. "On a day when the U.S. military reports additional evidence of Iran's meddling in Iraq with weapons and training that are being used to kill our soldiers, it's troubling that some Democrats are making travel arrangements to visit Tehran," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said at a briefing. Such trips would be "unproductive and unhelpful - and that applies to all members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats," Perino said. The spokeswoman made the remarks after Democratic Representative Tom Lantos said...

<p>Wearing her scarf of female submission, US Democrat Speaker of the House entered Islamic Syria during the week prior to Easter. Many of us were surprised that she didn't don a full burqa. Speaking for the new US Democrat Shadow Government, after her talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Pelosi told Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (and the worldwide press) that Israel was "ready to engage in peace talks" with the terrorist nation. Wow! All it took was a woman (as a strong side note-women are considered to be below beasts of burden in fundamentalist Islamic-run countries) to settle the problems in the Middle East. If only we'd tried this sooner the world could have avoided all of the bloodshed and wars that have been ongoing for multiple decades between Israel and terrorist Islamic countries!</p>

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Jeff in Chicago, nice to have you with us, sir. CALLER: Rush, it is an honor. RUSH: Thank you, sir. CALLER: Does Nancy Pelosi not understand what the Constitution specifically defines as her role as an elected official? RUSH: She totally understands it. CALLER: She is in the legislative branch, not the executive, and a lot of things that she is beginning to do encroaches upon the executive branch. RUSH: Well... (sigh) CALLER: But my main question is this though. She is almost like her own drug. The more she does, the more she's going to attempt...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi toured Damascus on Tuesday, the highest-ranking American politician to visit Syria since relations began to deteriorate four years ago. President Bush criticized the trip, saying it sends mixed signals to President Bashar Assad. The United States accuses Syria of interfering in Iraq and Lebanon and sponsoring terrorists — charges Syria denies. The Bush administration has resisted calls to open direct talks with Damascus on resolving the countries' disputes. Pelosi, D-Calif., is scheduled to meet Assad and other Syrian officials on Wednesday. She made no comment on arrival and headed for the Old...

Dem leadership pulls DC voting bill from floor; conservative Dems were supporting DC gun repeal... Leader Hoyer seen yelling at staff on floor... Speaker Pelosi absent because she is desperately searching for Iraq supplemental votes... Holmes-Norton standing silently in disbelief..

The controversy over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys for reasons that may or may not have been political has reached the high-drama stage, with Congress approving subpoenas and President Bush daring the legislative body to carry them out. But a study by two communications professors that suggests the Bush Justice Department is seven times more likely to investigate Democrats than Republicans may point to a much larger scandal.The professors, John Cragan, of Illinois State University, and Donald Shields, of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, looked at news reports of 375 elected officials between 2001 and 2006 and concluded the...

WASHINGTON — More than two months after suffering a brain hemorrhage, South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson has left a Washington hospital and entered a private rehabilitation facility, his office said Tuesday. A spokeswoman refused to say whether the senator remained in Washington or was moved to a facility in South Dakota, citing family concerns about media scrutiny. "They just want him to focus on getting better and not worried about outside cameras snapping away," said spokeswoman Julianne Fisher.

While Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other Chicken Little Democrats are running around screaming the sky is falling over “Global Warming” and asking the real world to tighten their belts and reduce the use of oil, the HBIC herself is requesting use of her own version of Air Force One to lug her Globe Trotting liposuctioned ass around the world at the expense of American Taxpayers. It would seem that the Global Warming crowd would want to lead by example, but oh no, not this bunch. Al Gore jumps from point A to point B by use of...