Free Republic

...The Telecommunications-Cable Television Deregulation Ensuring Consumer Protection Act (S. 3062) contains little in the way of deregulation at all, instead reaffirming and expanding the role of the Board of Public Utilities. The Board would continue to set rates, tariffs, and terms and conditions for services, in addition to creating higher regulatory barriers to entry for new competitors in the market. S. 3062 will also force “carrier of last resort” obligations onto providers, meaning some companies will be forced to maintain costly phone and video networks in areas with other, stronger competition and potentially no customers – costs that will be...

SNIPPET: "A radical Tunisian Islamist leader, denied an entry visa into the United States during the 1990s, is scheduled to make two appearances on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia's Ennahda Party, will attend a forum on the Arab Spring at the Cannon Office Building, an announcement from the event's sponsor, the Muslim Public Affairs Council's (MPAC) said. He'll also attend a special dinner Tuesday evening. Ghannouchi's Ennahda Party recently won the majority in the first free parliamentary elections since the ouster of Tunisia's longtime ruler, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali." SNIPPET: "In a May interview with the...

...In fact, the debt limit deal passed in August secured victory for taxpayers in any scenario - without a committee plan, a budget sequestration will go into effect, axing $1.2 trillion from federal spending. Taxpayers in favor of smaller government win either way. Unlike a detailed committee proposal, the sequestration is an across-the-board cut for next year’s spending levels. The August debt deal requires half of the sequestration to fall on the defense side (the largest discretionary allocation by a long shot; defense spending makes up more than half of the funds appropriated each year) and half to come from...

Would need some help in finding a friend of my dad that he would like to re-unite with. He hasn't seen this buddy in over 40 years. All we know is that he was in the navy and is old enough to receive social security. Can't find him in Facebook. Would Social Security admin assist in finding someone? Would Veterans Affairs? If they could help what offices should be contacted? Any help from anyone who has ever tried to find someone they want to re-connect with would be really appreciated. Many thanks.

Question: What is reality? ...After several debates with multiple evolutionary "experts" including several authors, a physicist and a college professor, this is the proper question to pose to the evolutionists. As with any debate, scientific, economic, political there are so-called "experts" on all sides will argue in perpetuity. In the case of evolution it's almost a waste of time to present the following foundational four facts: NUMBER ONE: There is no physical fossil record of even one single mutant, evolving species anywhere. There are a lot of artist renditions, anecdotal evidence and claims of such things but that's it. One...

Thanksgiving is a time for reuniting with friends and family, but the government wants to be part of your celebration too. Whether you stay home or travel for the holiday, government is a significant contributor to the costs of the celebration. Of an identified $10 billion in spending that occurs during Thanksgiving weekend on the wine and beer, the gas and plane tickets, and the meal itself, government taxation composes 35.86 percent of those expenses—approximately $3.6 billion in revenues. Many of these Thanksgiving items are subject to the increased costs of income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, and other...

The affirmation from the Super Committee today that they will not be producing a debt proposal comes as no surprise after repeated reports that Democrats refused to agree to a deal that did not include massive tax hikes. In September, ATR offered the below suggestions to find $1.5 trillion in savings—simple solutions that would have gone beyond the $1.2 trillion debated by the committee. Democrats instead torpedoed the opportunity to enact such commonsense reforms, arguing tax hikes can fix what it is a fundamental spending problem. First, the Committee should enact a hard, nominal discretionary spending freeze at the FY2012...

...After staying resolute in their pledge to not raise taxes and negotiating $1 trillion in cuts off the bat, House Republicans blinked on the BBA, bringing the weakest version available to the floor for a vote. We have always warned that a weak amendment that does not require a super-majority to increase taxes will result in more harm than good – indeed, it is a pure fiction that in an era of $1.5 trillion deficits (and $15 trillion of debt) that Congress would be willing or able to cut spending rather than raise taxes to close this budget hole. Throw...

...Democrats can cut spending without demanding higher taxes. It’s just too bad Meet the Press moderator David Gregory failed to point out that Kerry’s statement was grossly inaccurate, nor did anyone on Morning Joe feel the need to correct Kerry’s factually incorrect statement when re-airing the clip this morning. If you really want to know why the supercommittee was unable to come to an agreement, American Enterprise Institute’s Jim Pethokoukis has a great post up this morning explaining how the Democrats' tax hike obsession killed the prospects for any deal: It’s like the 1990s never happened and the 1970s never...

Stephen Chu, Secretary of Energy (a world renowned physicist and former Nobel peace prize winner) recently testified before members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, arguing that Solyndra – although it failed – was still a good choice on the government’s part. He refuses to acknowledge that such a move may have been a waste of taxpayer dollars. It seems like all government does now is waste, waste and waste more: with Beacon Power Corporation’s having recently failed, too, taxpayers should feel more skeptical then ever when it comes to subsidizing energy. Although Vice President Joe Biden initiated the original...

More Videos: http://www.CleanTV.com Just when you thought it was safe to grab some munchies in the cupboard, a new study warns of cancer in cans and bags—in cans of Pringles and in bags of a myriad of other potato chips. This disturbing truth about an all-time favorite snack may be forcing food manufacturers to change their processing methods. But can the changes really make a difference? Researchers find that potato chips, among other processed foods, are loaded with the cancer causing chemical, acrylamide (uh-kril-uh-mahyd). The substance forms when carbohydrate-rich foods are cooked at very high temperatures. Some of the worst...

First it was Keystone, now it’s coast-to-coast. Scared to affront his base in an election year, Obama has imposed a five-year drilling ban on a majority of offshore areas. This is particularly disappointing given America’s persistent unemployment. Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. Obama’s recent decision to punt on Keystone may have effectively killed the project, and the thousands of jobs needed to complete the pipeline. Like Keystone, the Department of Interior’s five year lease plan leaves hundreds of thousands of jobs on the table. The Institute for Energy Research’s Dan Simmons points out a few facts about offshore oil...

[Actual chart coming in a follow up(s) comment as it is too large for a main post.] Column Definitions: Tax Pledge: Has the candidate signed the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform? Individual Rates: What tax rate or tax rate range does the candidate want the individual income tax to have? Business Tax: At what marginal tax rate would the candidate tax corporate and small business profits? National Sales Tax: Has the candidate endorsed any form of a national sales tax, including a VAT? Cap Gains: At what marginal tax rate would the candidate tax capital gains...

Nearly 48 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, fresh audio evidence from that fateful day has surfaced. The evidence comes in the form of the original reel-to-reel Air Force One radio recording, containing conversations between officials on the plane, the White House situation room, and others. The original tape was long thought to be lost or destroyed. The tape contains never-before-heard conversations between the presidential aircraft and the White House and immediately after the assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. It was held privately for years by President Kennedy’s military aide at the time, Chester...

This FaithIssues video shows the exponential population growth of human beings from a biblical perspective. The bible says in the book of Daniel that in the last days man will travel to and fro and knowledge will increase. And along with that has been a huge population increase. Enjoy this video and share it with your friends. Thank you. Faith Issues Link to video: http://www.youtu.be/KlNYwsAQYzQ

This may be the first nonpolitical post I've made but this was just too cool not to share: Despite the fact that one wrong move could put Garrett into an early watery grave, crushed by mega tons of water, he appeared to calm and in control, even as he traversed down the most dangerous part of the wave to set a new world record, surfing a 90 foot wave!

Not cheering yet? You should be. In all likelihood, you are Big Oil. Nearly half the population holds stock in oil and natural gas companies through pension funds—there are 145 million retirement accounts invested in oil and natural gas companies. The average value of these pension accounts is less than $55,000. 48.6 million American families hold IRAs that are invested in oil and natural gas companies—80 percent of these IRA holders earn $70,000 or less. All in all, corporate management owns 2.8 percent of oil companies; middle class Americans largely own the rest. But Americans looking to retire comfortably aren’t...

One year from today we will know whether or not Barack Obama will continue as President of the United States for another four years. If history has anything to do with it, the American public will be able to breathe a sigh of relief as we give him his walking papers. It has nothing to do with the fact that a recent poll reveals that 55% of Americans believe Obama will be a one-term president. Nor does it have to do with the fact that a current poll suggest that any Republican candidate would beat Obama in an election by...

This is AWFUL!! I spilled milk in the car and now it smells like something died in there? Does anyone have a hint about how to make this smell go AWAY?? My neighbor thought she was being funny and said, 'buy a new car'.

Report: Over 1,000 Kids in L.A. County Foster Care Have Capable Parents Who've Been Detained/Deported. Arguably two of California's most controversy-plagued government factions -- immigration enforcement and child protection -- team up for double the incompetency in today's "Shattered Families" report by the Applied Research Center. The heartbreaking new data shows that 1,178 children in Los Angeles County alone are only in foster care because... ... their illegal-immigrant parents are caught up in deportation proceedings. "It's one more problem," says Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. "What you've got is two hugely dysfunctional systems, and when...