Free Republic

Did someone make this "Declare Your Devotion To a Dem Day" at MSNBC? You have to wonder. During the network's noon hour, Dr. Nancy Snyderman declared herself a "big fan" of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Not to be outdone, during the following hour Andrea Mitchell ended her interview with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Ia.) by thanking him profusely—and I mean at length—for having pushed through passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act 19 years ago today. View video here.

In its effort to overhaul health care, Congress is planning to give employers sweeping new authority to reward employees for healthy behavior, including better diet, more exercise, weight loss and smoking cessation. A web of federal rules limits what employers and insurers can do now. Congress is seriously considering proposals to provide tax credits or other subsidies to employers who offer wellness programs that meet federal criteria. In addition, lawmakers said they would make it easier for employers to use financial rewards or penalties to promote healthy behavior among employees. Two Democratic senators working on comprehensive health legislation, Max Baucus...

President Barack Obama plans to unveil today a fiscal 2010 budget full of details on his plans to save as much as $17 billion by cutting — and in some cases ending — 121 government programs. The goal, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, is "identifying and ending programs that are unneeded and don't work." About half the savings would come from nondefense programs, and the rest from de-fense. Major cuts would include ending the Even Start program, which promotes family literacy, as well as a mine cleanup effort and the Education Department's Paris attache. The full list will...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--It appears Sen. Arlen Specter's planned party switch will restore his electoral safety but won't, at least according to a Senate colleague, come with the trappings of a chairmanship. Specter, R-Pa., who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee before Republicans lost control of Congress in 2007, will retain his seniority when he migrates from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. His nearly three decades in the Senate will catapult him above other Democrats on several committees. But although that means he now has the seniority to chair the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the departments of Labor, Health...

Bill Press’ floundering radio show seems to be the place where Democrat senators go to say stupid things. Last week is was Senator Debbie Stabenow who wanted the Fairness Doctrine. This week it’s Senator Tom Harkin. “…They are just shutting down progressive talk from one city after another,” Press said. “All we want is, you know, some balance on the airwaves, that’s all. You know, we’re not going to take any of the conservative voices off the airwaves, but just make sure that there are a few progressives and liberals out there, right? “That’s why we need the Fairness Doctrine...

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has become the second U.S. senator in a week to endorse a return to the ideas behind the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," a plan that was abandoned under President Reagan in 1987 as unnecessary and unconstitutional. The plan, originally introduced in 1949, demanded that radio and television stations give "equal" time to conservative and liberal opinions on political issues under the threat of penalties or license revocation.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is pushing for return of the Fairness Doctrine even as some of his Democratic colleagues are quietly backing off the idea. Originally instituted in 1949 by the FCC, the Fairness Doctrine required broadcasters over the public airwaves to give equal time to opposing political views.

Dear Rob: Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you. At a time when Americans are working harder to make ends meet, I share your concern about the high cost of gasoline. Iowans are paying record prices and it's creating a ripple effect throughout our economy and the problem only seems to be getting worse. These prices make living our daily lives a real challenge. I am fully committed to changing the course of America's energy policy - to transition America away from our crippling dependence on foreign sources of oil. These debilitating prices are...

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa is an embarrassment, both to the Senate and to the citizens of his home state of Iowa. It is Harkin that you can see cheering on Howard Dean has he makes his famous "I Have a Scream" speech in 2004, and Harkin is the guy shouting "DO IT FOR PAUL!" as he turned a memorial service into a crass political rally when he exhorted the thousands of mourners to elect Democrats because that's what the recently dead Senator Paul Wellstone supposed would have wanted. Harkin is also known for lies about his own military experience,...

According to Tom Harkin, a man who served his country for decades in the military and follows a family tradition of service must be feared rather than respected. Harkin told reporters that John McCain’s family history of service makes him too “militaristic” to be President, unlike those who got drafted against their will to serve the nation. Unfortunately, neither describes Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton: Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, “and he has a hard time thinking beyond that,” Sen. Tom Harkin,...

Talker Rush Limbaugh is under fire for being falsely accused of saying that any U.S. soldier who comes out against the war is a “phony soldier.” He did not, of course, say such a thing. Rush was actually talking about a man named Jesse Macbeth who was touted by anti-war activists as a soldier who came out against the war, but it turned out later that Macbeth never served in the military at all. Still, despite that Rush is utterly innocent of these scurrilous charges, members of the Democrat Party and assorted extreme leftists like Media Matters, a far left...

Senator Tom Harkin has joined the Democratic left's attack on Rush Limbaugh for calling a phony soldier a phony soldier. Here is Harkin's charming contribution, which he saw fit to offer on the floor of the U.S. Senate: Well, I don’t know. Maybe [Limbaugh] was just high on his drugs again. I don’t know whether he was or not. If so, he ought to let us know. But that shouldn’t be an excuse. As (Michelle Malkin) points out, Harkin knows a thing or two about being a phony claims regarding military service. During his 1992 presidential campaign, Harkin claimed he...

As our soldiers are engaged in an epic battle against sworn enemies of America, our elected officials take to the Senate floor, whining about a passing comment by a talk show host. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scored a “two-fer”. He burnished his “pro-troop” credentials while, at the same time, attacking Rush Limbaugh. This was a masterful gotcha moment. Sen. Reid implored his fellow senators to join him in condemning Limbaugh for a "hateful" and "unpatriotic" attack on U.S. troops. This, in response to a comment about phony vets made by Rush Limbaugh. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa threw...

Ah, those diversity-loving liberals. You know, the kind who would stifle free speech with their Orwellian "Fairness Doctrine," who threaten legal action against mom-and-pop T-shirt makers who criticize MoveOn.org. Wesley Clark would now take things one step further, whacking Rush Limbaugh off the Armed Forces Network radio airwaves. "Today" co-anchor Meredith Vieira interviewed the retired general and former Dem presidential candidate on this morning's show. MEREDITH VIEIRA: He wants Congress to pull Rush Limbaugh off the Armed Forces Radio Network, which is funded by taxpayers . . . You started this email campaign to get Limbaugh off the Armed Forces...

Supporters of stem cell research refuse to give up on getting their legislation signed into law this year. As President Bush prepares to veto the measure Congress sent him last week, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is planning to attach the pro-research legislation to the spending bill being crafted by his Appropriations labor subcommittee. That raises the stakes on the so-called “Labor-H” spending bill. House Appropriations Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wis.) has been trying to build a veto-proof majority for the bill, adding sweeteners to the bill such as an increase in abstinence-only education. Bush already has threatened to veto spending bills...

5 out of the top ten US House Recipients of contributions (1989- 2001) from Arthur Andersen are democRats. Their names and the amounts are listed below. And, according to dim logic, they are guilty by association and should have their names shining in the bright lights of Reuters, AP, Drudge, The Washington ComPost, and more. After all, this is a hit piece. Here you go, Klayman, chase this ambulance too! Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) $34,687 Martin Frost (D-Texas) $32,000 Peter Deutsch (D-Fla) $24,200 James P. Moran (D-Va) $21,250 Ken Bentsen (D-Texas) $19,225 Other Rats also receiving Andersen dirty money include: Rick...

Who lost Nicaragua?By Oliver NorthFriday, October 6, 2006WASHINGTON, D.C. -- During the 1980 presidential campaign, Republicans pointed out that Jimmy Carter had "lost Nicaragua" to communism. The 1979 Sandinista "Revolution Without Frontiers" led by Daniel Ortega was just one of many foreign policy disasters during the Carter administration -- and Ronald Reagan assured Americans that such things wouldn't happen on his "watch." Unfortunately, Reagan is gone, and today Nicaragua looks like a case of "back to the future." On Nov. 5 -- just two days before our own mid-term congressional elections -- the people of Nicaragua will cast ballots for...

Even most professional Democrats, with all the mistakes they constantly make, know enough not to leave the nutty remarks made by Hugo Chavez about President Bush to go unchallenged. Thus we have Charles Rangel and Nancy Pelosi criticizing Chavez for his United Nations rant. Of course, neither Rangel nor Pelosi really mean it when they criticize Chavez but they have to publicly chastise him as a bow to election realities since they realize that all the Venezuelan despot has done is draw sympathy for Bush in this country. Most Democrats, however, continue to despise Bush and some, like Senator...

While Democrats and the “progressive” left were quick in trying to brand the Abramoff scandal as a “Republican scandal,” the facts indicate that this declaration is just another attempt by political opportunists at misdirection. In fact, Democrats do a great job at feeding off the special interest trough. According to Internal Revenue Service records, and substantiated by the Campaign Finance Analysis Project, forty of the forty-five members of the Democrat Senate Caucus took money from Jack Abramoff, his associates, and their Indian tribe clients. These recipients include: Charles Schumer ($29,550), Harry Reid ($68,941), Patty Murray ($78,991), Mary Landrieu($28,000), John Kerry...

A bill to support adult stem cell research may have passed in the House by a 431-1 vote, but Senate Democrats blocked it on Thursday. They prevented consideration of the bill that would provide $79 million in federal funding for the collection and storage of umbilical cord blood because they favor an embryonic stem cell research proposal. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist tried to bring up HR 2520 on Thursday, but pro-abortion Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said he only wanted to allow a vote on it if Frist would agree to a vote on HR 810. That's a...