Free Republic

Oil: First, some very good news on the energy front: Exxon Mobil is set to drill into a massive, 85-billion-barrel arctic oil reserve that will soon be gushing crude. Now the bad news: They're doing it for Russia, not America. If the oil flows as expected, total investment could hit $500 billion, or 18% of Russia's gross domestic product, with pumping to begin in 2020. As part of the deal, Rosneft gets a bigger piece of the U.S. energy market — a one-third stake in three major Exxon Mobil offshore and shale oil projects here in the U.S., the Gulf...

The thrill tingling up the leg of Chris Matthews has become something else trickling down his leg. Democrats are worried that they will lose the White House in 2012 — and both chambers of Congress by bigger margins than the Republicans have enjoyed since Hoover. In a piece at Salon magazine, Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, openly asks about getting some challengers to President Obama in next year’s primaries. Noting that Obama’s approval dropped below 40% in the Gallup, Stoller wrote, “George W. Bush’s approval rating didn’t drop this low until Katrina hit.” That was in 2005,...

Last Tuesday, November 16 , Soros told financiers of the Democratic party that Obama must go. The liberal "Huffington Post" quoted Soros as saying: "...if this president can't do what we need, it is time to start looking somewhere else." Yes, Soros wants another puppet that he can use to control America with. The one he currently uses has a few broken strings and it keeps going on vacation. Also, his old puppet no longer captivates his audience like it did back in 2008. Did he really mean that Mr Vachon? Soros' adviser Michael Vachon tried to do some damage...

However, if they do manage to get past that obstacle, the Republicans can shut down the Senate for the next year. Those unfamiliar with the parliamentary procedure may not realize that a great many steps get skipped by unanimous consent. Bill-reading is just one example. One Senator can force each and every bill to be read aloud at every appearance it makes on the Senate floor, including when they are sent to committee. For ObamaCare and cap-and-trade, one bill reading could take a week, keeping the Senate floor locked off from any other business. Traditionally, Senators give each other the...

Any time corporate executives and directors are heavily selling their company's stock there's reason for concern. And lately they've been doing just that. The last time insider selling was as high as it is now was in the period from late 2006 to late 2007. It was right after that insider-selling surge that the stock market began its long painful decline, says Charles Biderman, CEO of TrimTabs, an independent institutional research firm. Biderman believes that insider trades shoot higher when there's a disconnect between broad market opinions and what business executives feel in their gut. "When [insiders think] things are...