Free Republic

...People interested in saving the trust fund should first look to make it more efficient. One measure that would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars would be to repeal the Davis-Bacon law. This holdover from the New Deal mandates that federal projects pay workers the “prevailing wage” in a region. When actually implemented, Davis-Bacon ends up inflating usually unionized workers wages, thus, raising the price tag on federal projects. Repealing this law would bring down construction costs and give the federal government more bang for its buck. Furthermore, to focus on the $36 billion the CBO predicts the highway...

After having been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, I am encouraged to open this thread by others who would like to share information with others who have joined our sisterhood. There's so much to learn and so much to take in all at once. Lots of decisions to make, too. Please feel free to share your experiences and hope that we may save lives in the process, and lift each other up. -- Jane Reinheimer

It’s becoming an annual tradition–vandalizing the 4200 flag Veterans Memorial in Cathedral City, California. Cat City is next to Palm Springs. "The charred remains of a burned flag were discovered early Wednesday behind the Postal Connection, 69-115 Ramon Road, about a mile from the Healing Field display at Patriot Park in Cathedral City at Date Palm and Dinah Shore drives." This was the fourth–and most violent vandalism in as many days. "The annual Healing Field memorial honors troops killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. Nearly 5,900 troops have died, but local Healing Field organizers had only enough flags to honor 4,200....

Spends too much. Government spending has typically been set at 21 percent of GDP, with revenues averaging 18 percent. The plan spends above this level every year until 2040, keeping taxes at around 20 percent to fund this profligacyDoes nothing to address long-term spending restraint. Instead, the Co-Chairs propose raising taxes to unprecedented levels to sustain excessive government growth.Refuses to acknowledge the impact big government, excessive spending packages such as the “stimulus” plan and bailout bills have had on the country’s solvency. Instead, the plan sets spending at FY2010 levels, starting in FY 2012. This instantiates the “stimulus,” bailout...

...By its own admission (page 11), the report calls for a ten-year net tax hike of $961 billion, nearly a $1 trillion tax increase over the decade. The stated goal of the report is to raise the long-standing historical level of federal revenues from its average of 18 percent of GDP to 21 percent of GDP. According to President Obama’s own Office of Management and Budget, federal revenues have never been this high, and their data pre-dates World War II. The report deceptively calls their net tax hikes “spending in the tax code.” There is no such thing, unless...

...More important is the overall economic benefit ratification of the U.S.-Korea FTA would bring. Today, South Korea is the world’s 10th-largest economy and America’s seventh-largest trading partner. The US-Korea FTA would abolish 95 percent of tariffs on all industrial and consumer goods within three years, and remove most of the lingering 5 percent within a decade. Since tariffs and trade barriers amount to government-imposed costs on both companies and consumers, eliminating these barriers in a free trade agreement amounts to a significant tax cut for both countries. Additionally, the U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that enacting the FTA would increase...

Ok this should be the last update for a while on my Preparedness Manual it is version 'H' and can be down loaded at: http://www.mediafire.com/?zx5772aa15x6xga Mostly I cut back some on the alcohol stove section and added a step by step make your own Rocket Stove. I corrected a few errors and did some minor updates on a few subjects like on CPR section reflecting the new recommendation that you start with chest compression first.

Now that the dust has settled from the great election tsunami of 2010, it's worth looking at some of the under-the-radar issues. One of these is public support for a value-added tax (VAT). According to exit polling conducted by Kellyanne Conway's the polling company, inc./WomanTrend, a super-majority of voters oppose an add-on VAT: 63 percent of voters were opposed to a VAT, including 48 percent strongly opposedA majority of every demographic (age, race, ethnicity, education level, gender, region, parental status, and marital status) opposed a VATAll income levels opposed a VAT, with the strongest opposition (68 percent) coming from families...

...While it is not unusual for lame duck sessions to deal with routine, noncontroversial bills, or to legislate in times of national emergency, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid are convening congress with the explicit intention of ramming their noxious initiatives through while they still have the votes to do so. They are relying upon the votes of their colleagues who will not be returning next year due to massive public distaste for these very schemes. These defeated representatives are the walking dead, rising once more from the political graves they dug for themselves to feast upon the...

Rep. Jason Chaffetz is proposing a resolution for the House of Representatives to refrain from bailing failing state employee pension funds. The resolution notes that the federal government should not prop up such underfunded plans with the federal deficit itself out of control...

Last week, every single signer of a Net Neutrality Pledge to regulate the Internet lost their election. Then, two days later on November 4, the FCC released their November meeting agenda and Net Neutrality was notably absent. So, where does the FCC’s (and the neo-Marxist left’s) pet project go from here? Most agree that the FCC’s Title II Internet regulation scheme is dead. For almost a year, the Commission has threatened to reclassify broadband Internet under 1930s laws to enact Net Neutrality regulations, and then some. Yet, over 300 Members of Congress – a vast, bipartisan majority from both the...

Full title Respondents Waive the Right to Respond to the Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court for the Kerchner et al v Obama et al Lawsuit ### There is new activity on the U.S. Supreme Court Docket today with an effective date on the docket of 3 Nov 2010. Document HERE.1. The Respondents named in our Petition have waived their right to respond. 2. The Western Center of Journalism has filed a motion for leave to file an Amicus Curiae Brief in support of our petition. To read the Petition to the U.S. Supreme Court filed...

Forbes Magazine recently released its annual statistics on best states for business and careers for 2010. In this tough economy and when looking for a place with good employment, it is a useful tool. The statistics were compiled by several business organizations including Moody's Economy.com Polling Corporate Real Estate Pacific Research Institute Tax Foundation Sperling's Best Places Better Government Association Census Bureau SBA FBI Dept. of Education and of course Forbes. Both Private and public sectors came together and compiled this listing. The criteria used included the following: educational attainment, net migration, projected population growth, regulatory and tort climate, incentives,...

I was recently emailed an article by Frank Ross called 15 questions for Democrats. It demonstrates some of the lies being told that republicans are racist. Reality check. Its the opposite. Liberals are racistWhich is the Real 'Racist' Party: Fifteen Questions for Democrats Big Journalism Posted by Frank Ross Feb 8th 2010 Once upon a time former Governor, Presidential candidate, and Chairman of the Democrat National Committee called the GOP the "White Party." CNN commentator Lou Dobbs took Dean to task for his language. So was Dr. Dean, and those among the Left who share his understanding of history, accurate?...

...The Tax Foundation notes that this is the seventh time Washington voters have rejected an income tax. If that's not a clear refutation in the face of millions of dollars of union spending, I'm not sure what is. And it should be noted that of the 22 six-figure contributions to the pro-tax effort, 17 of them came from labor unions. Read more: http://www.atr.org/washington-voters-unions-again-a5591#ixzz14LhLsvuo

...If Obama and his fellow Democrats wish to root out shady campaign contributions from special interests, they needn’t look farther than their own doorstep. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the largest outside spender for the 2010 elections has been a public sector union, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which spent more than the Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads/Crossroads GOP, the two biggest Republican spenders. Rounding out the top five spenders this cycle are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the National Education Association (NEA), which combined with AFSCME in spending tens...

Link to Chapter 1I understood the differences between what application developers wanted to do and what the “artificial intelligence” technology of the late 1980s supported. They were not the sort of differences that one might use to contract to update a software application. What had been, in effect, a broad survey of application needs resulted in a snap-shot of a more basic set of technical requirements. This snap-shot taught me much about the path of development of software technology generally, decades into the future. Much of that future would evolve with or without me, as developers pushed to realize their...

The economy is the most important issue for the 2010 election. Here is a video diary of important economic facts from the past, present and future (yes, future...what if we continue with the bailouts, government waste...will China own us?)

THE CLINTON ADMIN. USED THE MEDICARE REGULATIONS TO GO AFTER THOSE OPPOSED TO HILLARYCARE In the early 1990s, Rick Scott was one of the most vocal critics of Hillary Clinton's health care plan (a.k.a. HillaryCare). Under Bill Clinton's administration a myriad of ambiguous and complex Medicare regulations were created. Full compliance was not feasible. It was more a game of gotcha and revenue than of law enforcement. The government was criticized in the media for classifying simple mistakes as “fraud.” Dozens of prestigious health care institutions paid millions in fines, including Yale Hospital, Duke University Hospital, Harvard University Hospitals,...

CONGRESS (FL-25)Candidates for Florida's 25th Congressional District DAVID RIVERARepublican JOE GARCIADemocrat OBAMACARE NO [1] YES [7] TAXPAYER-FUNDED BAILOUTS NO [2] YES [8] RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS YES [3] NO [9] ABORTION ON DEMAND NO [4] YES [10] TAXPAYER PROTECTION PLEDGE YES [5] NO [11] AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS NO [6] YES[12] Sources. - Joe Garcia on the issues - FL-25: Fake-Tea-Party candidate Roly Arrojo