Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama says Democrats "don't want to tax all businesses out of business." "I know that there are a few Republicans here in the audience," Obama said Friday at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign in Palo Alto, Ca. "If you talk to us, it turns out we're pretty common-sense folks. "We don't think government can do everything," he said. "We don't think that top-down solutions are the right way to go. We believe in the free market. We believe in a light touch when it comes to regulations."

A $4 billion tax on oil companies would fund research into cleaner-burning fuels, reducing pollution and saving the lives of future California residents, supporters say. But what will happen to prices at the gas pump? That depends on whom you ask. Proposition 87 aims to reduce petroleum consumption by 25 percent over a little more than one decade. If approved by voters in November, the tax would pay for incentives encouraging the production and purchase of vehicles that run on alternative energy. Sixty percent of the state's air pollution woes can be blamed on moving vehicles that burn gasoline or...

Former President Bill Clinton was cheered Friday as he spoke to a university crowd in support of a California ballot measure that would tax oil to fund alternative energy research. Clinton called Proposition 87 "California's way to energy independence." The measure would tax companies drilling for oil in California until it has generated $4 billion. The money would be set aside for loans, grants and subsidies to promote alternative fuels and more energy-efficient vehicles. "To save the planet, improve our national security and create the next generation of good jobs for the American people - that's what Prop 87 represents...