Free Republic

The Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro and her bureaucrat underlings came under fire once again in a hearing on Wednesday for the agency’s decision to lease 900,000 square feet of unneeded office space at Constitution Center in downtown Washington, D.C. The bureaucrats that pulled the trigger obligated the taxpayers to pay $556 million in lease obligations over the course of the next 10 years. Rest assured these bureaucrats are going to have some major legal problems if the Department of Justice (DOJ) pursues a criminal investigation on the $556 million lease debacle. The DOJ is most likely looking...

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush was promised $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes by Congressional Democrats. That's not what happened. All $137 billion in tax hikes went through. Most notable was raising the top marginal tax rate from 28 percent (the Reagan low) to 31 percent (itself a setup for the 1993 Clinton tax hike of this rate all the way up to 39.6 percent). There were also increases in "sin" taxes and the Medicare payroll tax, as well as the yacht "luxury tax" that President Obama seems so intent on re-visiting on the jet...

Hey everyone this is my first article in over six months, before I get to todays topic I want to update all my fans and readers on what has been going on. First of all as you know I have been focusing mainly on my vlog on youtube also called mainestategop and on starting a new libertarian organization based on the tyranny response team which I and many friends of mine are members. The organization is called the New England Alliance for Liberty and Free Markets. Were hoping to hold a convention next year either in Concord or Portsmouth. You...

The House Judiciary Committee today moved forward critically important legislation to curb state efforts to force out-of-state, non-resident businesses to pay income tax. The Business Activity Tax Simplification Act, or BATSA (H.R. 1439) would prevent states from reaching across their borders by setting a uniform physical presence threshold for when a state may target an out-of-state business for income tax. States across the country have begun to throw their tax burdens onto out-of-state businesses and individuals to collect more tax revenue and grow the size of government. In doing so, they have gradually replaced the “physical nexus” standard for tax...

Many view the White House meeting today as a sign that the debt ceiling debate is reaching critical mass - especially as Treasury continues to demogogue the August 2 deadline it has set for the exhaustion of U.S. borrowing authority. However, it is important to note that default does not even pose a remote threat at this point; the United States takes in ten times in revenue what it needs to service its debt, and can stil afford to pay out major entitelment obligations as well. What's more, Treasury's posturing on deafult belies the fact that it gets to make...

Second Branch Suffrage. What of Enumerated Powers? G. Morris Speech. In Convention. [FN1] "Shall the clause allowing each State one vote in the 2d. branch, stand as part of the Report"? being taken up Mr. GERRY. This is the critical question. He had rather agree to it than have no accomodation. A Governt. short of a proper national plan, if generally acceptable, would be preferable to a proper one which if it could be carried at all, would operate on discontented States. He thought it would be best to suspend the [FN2] question till the Comme. yesterday appointed, [FN3] should...

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich) announced yesterday that House Republicans will not be extending a harmful tax on jobs, known as the FUTA surtax: “The time was October 1976. KC and the Sunshine Band encouraged Americans to 'Shake Your Booty' and the Bee Gees proclaimed that 'You Should Be Dancing.' And Congress created a supposedly 'temporary' Federal unemployment tax on jobs, sometimes called the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) 'surtax.' Today, after 35 years and eight separate extensions of this provision, the surtax will expire as House Republicans, led by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) have refused to...

Wealth v. Population in First Branch. Forty-Thousand Clause Sent to Committee. Money Bills. In Convention. Mr. Govr. MORRIS moved to commit so much of the Report as relates to "One member for every 40,000 inhabitants" His view was that they might absolutely fix the number for each State in the first instance; leaving the Legislature at liberty to provide for changes in the relative importance of the States, and for the case of new States. Mr. WILSON 2ded. the motion; but with a view of leaving the Committee under no implied shackles. Mr. GHORUM apprehended great inconveniency [FN1] from fixing...

I have always said that if you want to know about "original intent", you should read what the Founders said and wrote, not what a Judge tells you they meant. Some people may not be aware that there is more information (regarding the meaning and intent of legislation) to be had by reading the debates in Congress. I have recently been perusing the debates in Congress regarding the "Naturalization Act of 1790." This act specifically forbids the Child of an American woman and a Foreign father from being considered an American citizen, unless the Father comes to America to becomes...

Cato Institute Senior Fellow Dan Mitchell explains how the left will attempt to raise taxes on American families and small businesses: “The real threat is back-door hikes resulting from the elimination and/or reduction of so-called tax breaks. The big spenders on the left are being very clever about this effort, appealing to anti-spending and pro-tax reform sentiments by arguing that it is important to get rid of ‘tax expenditures” and “spending in the tax code...’” Read more: http://www.atr.org/eliminating-tax-expenditures-left-wing-code-a6309#ixzz1RGfuAhOT

Today marks the one year anniversary of the implementation of the Obamacare indoor tanning tax. The punitive 10 percent tax was among the first of twenty-one Obamacare tax hikes to take effect, and is just one of the seven Obamacare tax hikes that break President Obama’s “firm pledge” that no family making less than $250,000 per year would see “any form of tax increase.” Taken together, the full slate of Obamacare tax hikes constitute one of the largest tax increases in American history – more than $500 billion over ten years. On April 14, the first of these tax hikes...

...The proposed Net Neutrality rules look to limit how Internet Service Providers manage data flowing on their networks. Yet, under the FCC’s new interpretation of its statutory authority, if the rules are legitimized they open the door to regulating virtually any aspect of the Internet. What the FCC fails to recognize is that the Internet did not come to be the powerful entity that it is today by acting under burdensome government regulations. The Internet grew in a relatively free marketplace, unfettered by harmful governmental policies. While the FCC has stated that they have regulatory authority to enact Net Neutrality...

Committee Report. First Proposition Postponed. Madison Speech. High Emotion. Morris Speech. Bedford Speech. Dissolution and Foreign Influence. Proportional Representation by Taxes Remitted. In Convention Mr. GERRY delivered in from the Committee appointed on Monday last the following Report. "The Committee to whom was referred the 8th. Resol. of the Report from the Committee of the whole House, and so much of the 7th. as has not been decided on, submit the following Report: That the subsequent propositions be recommended to the Convention on condition that both shall be generally adopted. 1. That in the 1st. branch of the Legislature each...

Finally. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports: New South Wales police conducting routine car stops will be given the power to demand the removal of head coverings for identification. Premier Barry O’Farrell says cabinet approved the move on Monday so police could properly identify motorists or any other people suspected of committing a crime. “I don't care whether a person is wearing a motorcycle helmet, a burka, niqab, face veil or anything else, the police should be allowed to require those people to make their identification clear,” he said in a statement. “I have every respect for various religions and beliefs...

Bullets and government repression might have stalled the youthful push for an Arab Spring, but  the Arab Spring has now  led to a Malaysian summer here in Southeast Asia and the heat and humidity is leaving many here thirsting for freedom and democratic reform. In 2007 then-Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi brought the calls for reform to an abrupt end using the old tried and true methods of repressing the media and then quelling the peaceful  protesters with chemical-laced water cannons and teargas.    It's questionable whether such old-school tactics will work this time and quite possibly they could backfire. Not...

Gun manufacturer locations vs. Gun control legislation (2010 Stats) Ratings: 1. Constitutional carry 2. Shall Issue 3. May Issue 4. Right Denied Except for PoliticiansU - Unrestricted (No Permit) handgun open carry W - handgun open carry With permit C - handgun open Carry in car as long as other requirements are met T - Tax on right to keep and bear Manufacturer State State Rating A-SQUARE COMPANY, LLC South Dakota 2UC Accu-Tek/Excel industries California 3U Airforce Airguns Texas 2C Alexander Arms Virginia 2UC American Spirit Arms Arizona 1UC ARES Incorporated Ohio 2U ArmaLite Illinois 4T Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Tennessee...

Committee Meets. One per 40,000 in First Branch. Equality of State Suffrage in Second Branch. The grand committee met. Mr. Gerry was chosen chairman. The committee proceeded to consider in what manner they should discharge the business with which they were entrusted. By the proceedings in the convention they were so equally divided on the important question of representation in the two branches, the idea of a concilatory adjustment must have been in contemplation of the house in the appointment of this committee. But still how to effect this salutary purpose was the question. Many of the members, impressed with...

Eighth Resolution. G. Morris Speech. Senators for Life. Equal State Suffrage in the Senate. Despair. Committee to Work on 7th & 8th Resolutions. In Convention. On the question for allowing each State one vote in the second branch as moved by Mr. Elseworth, [FN1] Massts. no. Cont. ay. N. Y. ay. N. J. ay. Pa. no. Del. ay. Md. ay. Mr. Jenifer being not present Mr. Martin alone voted Va no. N. C. no. S. C. no. Geo. divd. Mr. Houston no. Mr. Baldwin ay. Mr. PINKNEY thought an equality of votes in the 2d. branch inadmissible. At the same...

The US Supreme Court Center at Justia.com is the leading resource on the internet which publishes United States Supreme Court decisions. They have been caught red handed in an Orwellian attempt to revise US Supreme Court cases which mention Minor v. Happersett as precedent on the issue of citizenship, as opposed to the other issue decided in Minor, voting rights. I have documented two incredible examples where Justia.com has been caught in the act of taking a hatchet job to US Supreme Court decisions by removing, not just the case name, “Minor v. Happersett”, but whole passages related to Chief...

Reports are surfacing today that suggest Democrats are conceding their demand for tax hikes is a non sequitor in the debt limit negotations. After the President's laughable attempt yesterday to blame the government's spending problem on tax treatment of corporate jets (policy he has previously supported) it is clear any discussion involving taxes represents a non-serious approach to the debt limit debate. The Hill reports today that in an effort to save face on the negotiations, Democrats are hoping to net Republican support for defense spending cuts. As we pointed out in the fall, conservatives should have no problem supporting...