Free Republic

Here’s the story: a patient (who doesn’t want to be named) was at a VA hospital for a colonoscopy — not a routine one, but because of a problem that could be serious. As he tells it: 9 am in or prep room IV and muscle relaxant … given- they’ll give me heavier dose of something before they go in. Sat there near an hour when lady walks in “Govt Shut down. If you’re not in, they’re out.” that was it. Went to patient advocate she had been sent home almost as soon as she arrived I’m guessing to head...

Sequestration, the measly slowdown in the growth rate of government spending, was President Obama and his Chief of Staff (now Treasury Secretary) Jacob Lew’s idea. Now President Obama has signed it into law. Today, I received an email from The White House explaining that it is all the Republicans fault for not closing tax loopholes on the wealthiest Americans. Furthermore, hundred of thousands of Americans will lose their jobs … or see their paycheck reduced. Dang, I wish Obama had thought of that in the first place!! Well, this is a better forecast that Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) prediction of 170...

TAMPA — MacDill Air Force Base officials announced Friday they have canceled the Airfest scheduled for April 6 and 7 because of forced budget cuts. "We waited until the very last minute kind of hoping for a breakthrough," said Terry Montrose, a spokesman for the 6th Air Mobility Wing. "We just came up against some unfortunate circumstances that won't allow it to happen." Montrose said even a budget breakthrough in the next few days would be unlikely to save the Airfest, given the months of planning required. "I don't see how we could turn it back on," he said. The...

President Obama on Saturday called for a “caucus of common sense” to step forward and stop the sequester, which began cutting $85 billion of federal spending out of the economy on Friday. … The deadline to avoid the across the board cuts outright came and went on Friday evening, as Mr. Obama officially signed the sequester into effect. Both parties blamed each other for the failure to secure a deal before the deadline, and the finger-pointing continued Saturday. …

…the other man’s conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my Freedom be judged by anothers conscience? 1 Cor 10:29 What the Repubs in congress have to understand is no matter what is said about them by the Three Pillars of Propaganda, none of it translates into actual votes. They are being trashed by the media, the DNC and academia but the only way they will lose votes is if or when they cave. The Obots will never vote for them anyway, so to hold what they have and rebuild, they need to give their base a reason to...

“Sequester.” It’s a word that used to come up rarely. And it nearly always referred to a jury being locked away to deliberate a verdict. Now it’s all over the news, a stand-in for the automatic spending cuts that hit the federal budget on March 1. And the only jury is an American public that has grown all too accustomed to seeing politicians dodge the tough choices necessary to finally bring spending under control. “There will be no easy off ramps on this one,” said one senior statesman as he defended sequestration in November 2011. “We need to keep the...

President Barack Obama ordered the start of $85 billion in government spending cuts, beginning a potentially decade-long wave of belt-tightening that risks curbing U.S. economic growth this year. The White House released the order tonight, the deadline set by a law passed two years ago to avoid a debt default, and the Office of Management and Budget sent Congress a detailed list of program cuts. The reductions’ impact will become clear over the next several weeks, as agencies inform affected government contractors and notify employees about furloughs, most of which wouldn’t begin until some time in April. “What’s important to...

The military leadership is proving to be a solid ally of President Obama in political Washington, adopting his social revolution and willing to serve as backdrops to the White House's campaign-style drive to win the budget battle with Republicans. The armed forces have launched an unrelenting lobbying effort on Capitol Hill with a flood of briefing charts to defense staffers. They show the damage that automatic budget cuts called "sequestration" would do to the troops -- and to jobs in congressional districts. The charts coincide with the White House push to blame congressional Republicans for the spending cuts, which begin...

March 1, 2013 Obama signs order for "sequester" budget cuts Matt Spetainick (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday signed an order that starts putting into effect across-the-board budget cuts known as the "sequester" after he and congressional leaders failed to find an alternative budget plan. The White House released a copy of Obama's directive entitled "Sequestration Order for Fiscal Year 2013." Government agencies will now begin to hack a total of $85 billion from their budgets between Saturday and October 1.

30 Seconds To Mars launch new single into space 'Up In The Air' is travelling to the International Space Station with thanks to NASA Earlier today (March 1), the first copy of 'Up In The Air' was launched from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station in the SpaceX Dragon Cargo Capsule. The single is set for release on March 19. 30 Seconds To Mars were in Florida to watch the galactic launch of the single, which is being transported by the Falcon 9 rocket, alongside in excess of 1,200 pounds of scientific experiments and cargo. For more information on...

Today is the day when, if one listens to Obama whose idea it was in the first place, an unprecedented $85 billion spending cuts will be sequestered, unleashing famine, pestilence, the apocalypse and grizzly bears (as all park rangers will be dead from starvation). Which is why we applaud the administration's desire to preempt this tragic for the nation outcome, by issuing, in one day alone: February 28, $80 billion in Treasury's sending debt to (obviously) what is a new all time high $16,687,289,180,215.37. In other words, the entire apocalyptic impact of the sequester for 2013 was offset by one...

Does this sound familiar?By the way, the White House doesn't think it has seen the worst case scenario on this manufactured crisis yet...guess what they think THAT is?!?

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department released from its jails more than 2,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation in recent weeks due to looming budget cuts and planned to release 3,000 more during March, the Associated Press has learned. The newly disclosed figures, cited in internal budget documents reviewed by the AP, are significantly higher than the “few hundred” illegal immigrants the Obama administration acknowledged this week had been released under the budget-savings process.

The Senate Budget Committee is expected to mark up its budget blueprint the week of March 11, ahead of the arrival of President Obama's plan to Capitol Hill. So far, specific dates have not been announced, but if the panel marks up a resolution that week it would be on track toward Senate approval before lawmakers leave town for a two-week Easter recess on March 22, according to a Senate aide. Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has vowed to mark up a budget resolution, which would be the first budget markup in four years for the panel. On Thursday,...

Rep. Maxine Waters of California was roundly mocked and even became a trending topic on Twitter on Thursday after a video of her claiming erroneously that the automatic budget sequester, which becomes effective tonight, will cost America 170 million jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, America currently has fewer than 135 million working people. Reporting information that allegedly came from the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, Congresswoman Waters warned ominously of the catastrophic number of job losses that would hit America once the budget sequester becomes law. "We don't need to be having something like sequestration...

"There is nothing just or virtuous about protecting a stale welfare state that is failing the people it is supposed to help." In a sharply written statement, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama blasts President Obama for campaigning and not governing. He calls Obama's response to the sequestration "the most cynical behavior I have seen during my time in Washington." Adds the senator, "Replacing the sequester would require the President to save $85 billion out of a $3,500 billion federal budget. One would think that any President would leap at the opportunity to make government more effective and responsive. But what...

  Things began well enough; completely covered in a pinstripe pant suit with pearls Let’s see: first we cancelled gym classes across the country in order to inject more important topics into the school curriculum like sex education, diversity, global paranoia, self-esteem, nutrition and sex education. Now Lady M wants to reintroduce “activity” classes in order to eliminate the fat behinds the kids are getting due to lack of gym class and because they’re no longer allowed to run around and play dodge ball at recess.   Things began to go downhill once everyone “Nike-ed” up (snip)Lady M was in...

On Laura Ingraham’s radio show on Friday, Washington Post columnist George Will took a few digs at the Obama White House for the way it has handled the so-called sequestration crisis. According to Will, the process has shown the public just where President Barack Obama and other liberals are on government and how any reduction is “intolerable.” “I think the sequester argument is extremely useful because it’s very educational for the American public,” Will said. “When the Obama administration increases on average 17 percent the budgets of the domestic agencies that are now facing a 5 percent cut, and they...

WASHINGTON — The screeching you hear in Washington is the sound of politicians slamming their mouths into reverse as they back away from their previous positions on the misnamed "budget sequester." For weeks now, we have been told that an $85 billion reduction in the rate of increase in federal spending — a 2.4 percent cut — will have devastating consequences for our nation. According to administration spokesmen and supporters, the sequestration means reduced agricultural inspections and the prospect of tainted food, cuts in childhood immunizations and more ill kids, long delays at airport security checkpoints, air traffic disruptions and...

At midnight tonight, a bevy of steep spending cuts will hit the federal government unless Congress and the White House agree to an alternative deficit-cutting proposal. Although the national media has been relentlessly focused on this deadline, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it will only affect New York City if the so-called “sequestration” continues for a significant length of time.