Free Republic

Is an imperfect climate bill (Waxman-Markey) better than no bill at all? Al Gore says yes.To bring environment supporters together, Gore will host a nationwide conference call on June 23 at 8 p.m. ET. The purpose, according to his Repower America e-mail sent to a selected audience, is “to build urgency around this bill and make sure it passes. We have to go to the grassroots – we have to continue building support in communities across the nation.”“As this climate legislation moves before the full Congress this summer, we have an opportunity unlike anything we’ve seen yet,” the e-mail concludes.Gore...

Arguing that the state is nickel and diming them to oblivion, leaders of California's financially beleaguered counties and cities say they plan to fight back.They suggested Wednesday that talks should begin on how to more equitably restructure government financing."The governor and Legislature can't solve this problem by themselves," said Yolo County Supervisor Mike McGowan. "The top-down approach has not worked." Their rancor follows daily assaults on local financing, including:• A state plan to borrow $2 billion in local property taxes from localities.• A proposal to divert $744 million from the local share of gas tax funds.• Calls to divert funds...

www.samjohnson.house.govJohnsonContact: McCall Avery 202-225-4201 Keep suspected terrorists out of America by Congressman Sam Johnson Washington, May 22 - Two days after taking the oath of office, President Obama signed an executive order closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in one year.  His recent speech sparked more questions than answers.  I have grave concerns about shutting down the prison without a future plan for where these jihadists will go.  I believe this could directly threaten the security of the American people.  The shroud of secrecy and lack of information four months after this announcement are big red warning flags in my...

'No Fly, No Buy' for Guns Bill Proposed by Rep. McCarthy User Rating: / 19 PoorBest Politics - Capitol Hill Written by Timothy Robertson Wednesday, 13 May 2009 13:32 Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) is co-sponsoring a House of Representatives bill preventing people on the government's no-fly list from purchasing guns. House representatives will introcude a bill Wednesday that would ban anyone on the controversial no-fly list from purchasing a gun in the U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), a strong gun control advocate, is co-sponsoring the legislation that would apply to the nearly 1 million people that make up the government’s no-fly...

Yesterday, Roger Hedgecock and the Liberty Papers posted an unclassified DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis report titled:Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.The “report” was one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS. I couldn’t believe it was real.I spent the day chasing down DHS spokespeople, who have been tied up preparing for a very important homeland security event later today: The First Lady is coming to visit their Washington office. Priorities, you know.Well, the press office got back to me and verified that the document...

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Texas fits the Department's profile of potential domestic terrorism described in their newly released report titled, " Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment". Islamic extremists' acts of domestic terrorism were recently given the dignity, by Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and President Obama, of being classified as man-made disasters, and abroad, the "war on terror" has been reclassified as an "overseas contingency plan". But an entire non-Islamic class, or perhaps by extension entire states, according to the report, are not afforded such considerate and cordial titles if...

Cavuto interviewing several tea party organizers. Cavuto says he has info that a well-organized and well-funded effort is underway to place Obamatrons inside tea party groups to then destroy the demonstrations when they occur through instigating violence and confusion. This in concert with the MSM to film only violence at such events so as to discredit anyone who opposes Obama. The guests are down-playing Cavuto's news, responding that the tea party movement is too large to be stopped in this way, estimating crowds of 10-15,000 at each demonstration on April 15.

<p>House Passes Mandatory National Service Bill http://www.infowars.com/house-passes-mandatory-national-service-bill/ The House passed a bill yesterday which includes disturbing language indicating young people will be forced to undertake mandatory national service programs as fears about President Barack Obama’s promised “civilian national security force” intensify.</p>

The United States Armed Forces have long offered a path to citizenship for permanent residents of the USA. A new program intends to encourage enlistment by temporary residents, offering citizenship in as little as six months, and an eventual target of one in four enlistees being foreign-born.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut Democrats are calling on Sen. Joe Lieberman to apologize to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for his comments criticizing them during the campaign. . . . It chastises the longtime Democrat, who won re-election in 2006 as an independent, for speaking at the Republican National Convention on behalf of Sen. John McCain.

The Akaka Bill, authorizing creation of a Hawaiian tribal entity, is being rewritten prior to submission to a vote in the House and Senate. The rewrite has not been in the news, but a January 16, 2009 Advertiser editorial warns the Akaka tribe against overconfidence. Three key sentences in the editorial make it possible for a highly informed reader to understand what Senator Dan Akaka’s (D-HI) staffers are changing: "Because of previous opposition from the Bush administration and Capitol Hill Republicans, the bill had been constrained. For example, Native Hawaiians were to be treated the same under criminal and taxation...

This might be a good time for investors to pick up a copy of the Koran. Stocks and other investments that adhere to sharia, or Islamic law -- though hardly unscathed -- have fared better than the broader market. That's thanks largely to rules that forbid investing in collateralized debt obligations and other toxic assets that have caused the carnage in conventional financial circles. A big part of the appeal of Islamic finance is its simplicity. Speculation is taboo under sharia, and there's a ban on assessing interest because the Prophet Mohammed said debts must be repaid in the amount...

Congress should think long and hard before giving Hank Paulson $700 billion to buy fallen mortgage securities. Paulson has draped his bailout plan in the cloak of a national emergency. Much as George W. Bush demanded expedited action from Congress to help fight terrorism, the treasury secretary wants his war-chest pronto. And just as Dick Cheney and his minions argued that the terrorism threat was too grave for the White House to submit to the customary checks and balances, so Paulson wants an appropriation with no conditions, no terms--nothing written down about how he would spend the money. All Paulson...

For an entire week, Americans watched as Senator Barack Obama took his act on the road, courting the European elitists and cowtowing to an endless array of foreign politicians. At this point it may be easy to take Obama’s “celebri-plomacy” lightly. Yet, his trip highlights a dangerous threat to America’s national sovereignty in the form of his globalist policies that will diminish America’s role in the world and outsource decisions of vital national interest to the United Nations. His Global Poverty Act, currently under consideration in Congress, is just one such policy. Despite its seemingly innocuous title, the Global Poverty...

If the primary season reveals no decisive front-runner, and if conservative delegates head toward the GOP convention with the nagging feeling that our best candidate wasn't in the race, we urge them to consider acting on what so many Republicans and Reagan Democrats are thinking. Drafting Newt Gingrich is a real solution to the current leadership problem. Even as a vice presidential choice, Gingrich would solidify the ranks and reinforce the GOP's position as the party of bold ideas, but as a presidential choice he could bring about a truly needed Second Reagan Revolution.

Fred Thompson's gone. Duncan Hunter's gone. All these people are gone. Huckabee could become Huckabeen — gone by next Tuesday. So could Rudy after next's Tuesday's Florida primary. All of a sudden you've got this Republican primary coming down to McCain, Romney, and Ron Paul. With all this uncertainty, just where can a conservative go? All of a sudden radio talk-show hosts, who reflect the opinions of grass-roots conservative voters, are all over the lot, hammering on Rudy, hammering on Romney, hammering on McCain, and hammering on Paul. Listening to them you get an idea who they want or don't...

I have decided a short guide is in order for anybody who is wondering about Upgrading to Vista or purchasing a new PC with Vista. I will do this in a question/answer format to make it easier on my pre-coffee morning mind. The very first question everybody should be asking themselves is, Do I need to?If XP is working fine for you and your computer is working fine, don't upgrade. Adopting early on usually means that you will have to deal with the craziness of incompatibilities with some of the older software you may have or some of the older...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry ordered today that schoolgirls in Texas must be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, making Texas the first state to require the shots. The girls will have to get Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating it Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government,...

Stars keep lining up for Proposition 87, a ballot measure that seeks to tax California's oil production to help finance alternative fuel development. The Yes on Prop. 87 campaign started airing a television commercial Monday featuring Bill Clinton that's cobbled together from a speech he gave at a rally in support of the initiative last week at UCLA. Clinton, a popular figure in heavily Democratic California, now joins a list of other big names who have come out in support of the measure. Actress Geena Davis appeared with Clinton at Friday's rally, and Julia Roberts stumped for the initiative at...

I was the guy who brought up how Khalid Sheik Muhammad went to UNC.