Free Republic

An abiding—make that the primary—goal of the Obama Administration has been to reduce income inequality. When the Affordable Care Act finally passed, White House economists and liberal pundits did a victory dance in their favorite publications boasting about how the bill would spread the wealth. So how's that inequality project working out? One answer came yesterday with the Census Bureau's annual snapshot on living standards. The official poverty rate—defined as a family of four earning less than $22,314—rose to 15.1%. That's up from 14.3% in 2009 and 12.5% in 2007. The official rate significantly overstates poverty by missing government income...

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and fellow Americans: Tonight we meet at an urgent time for our country. We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless, and a political crisis that has made things worse. This past week, reporters have been asking “What will this speech mean for the President? What will it mean for Congress? How will it affect their polls, and the next election?” But the millions of Americans who are watching right now: they don’t care about politics. They have real life concerns. Many have spent months...

Speaker Boehner to Host Private-Sector Job Creators in House Gallery for President Obama’s Address Speaker’s Guests Include More than a Dozen Job Creators Who Have Run Into Government Barriers in Their Efforts to Create New American Jobs WASHINGTON, DC (Sep 8) House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today announced he will host more than a dozen private-sector job creators in the House gallery during President Obama’s address to a Joint Session of Congress tonight. Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-IL) recruited these job creators as part of Republicans’ effort to reach out to American employers being hampered by excessive regulations from...

BASTROP — Firefighting-trained volunteers from around the state converged on Bastrop and Smithville Tuesday to lend a hand to the beleaguered local firefighters battling the Bastrop County Complex Fire — only to be sent away as federal officials arrived at the scene and took command, apparently because local officials never made a formal request for volunteers. “We were at the station getting set up into strike teams, and this guy came up and said that the U.S. Forest Service had ‘assumed control of the situation, and that ‘If you don’t have a vehicle that squirts water, go home,’” said Gordon...

We know every detail about other presidents and their families, why not this one? Onyango Obama, U.S. President Barack Obama’s uncle, was charged this week in Boston with drunk driving. Turns out he’s also an illegal immigrant. When he was arrested, he told police he wanted to call the White House. Why not? If President Obama bailed out General Motors, why not his own uncle? In one of his autobiographies, President Obama talks fondly about Onyango, calling him “Uncle Omar.” So it’s not like they were long lost relatives. But Uncle Omar isn’t the only embarrassment in the Obama family....

QUESTION: If Congress were to pass the package that the President's going to announce, unemployment would be under 9%? JAY CARNEY: Based on, when you're talking about economic predictions, yes. Economic analysts, economists will be able to look at this series of proposals and say that 'based on history, based on what we know, based on their collective expertise, that it would add to economic growth and cause an increase to job creation. In 2009, the White House said President Obama's stimulus plan would bring unemployment to below 8%.

JAY CARNEY, WH Press Secretary: "They don't give a lick about the day and time: ED HENRY, FOX News: "Why doesn't he give a speech from the oval office tonight saying here's my plan?" CARNEY: "He wants to speak before Congress because he recognizes that while there are things he can do without Congress, and he will do them, there are actions that need to be taken with Congress that require legislation to grow the economy and create jobs. And he wants to go to Congress, speak directly to members of Congress, and layout his proposals."

"The interesting question is: What is it about this president that has stripped away the veneer of respect that normally accompanies the Office of the President? Why do Republicans think this president is unpresidential and should dare to request this kind of thing? It strikes me that it could be the economic times, it could be that he won so big in 2008 or it could be, let's face it, the color of his skin. This is an extraordinary reaction to a normal sequence of events," MSNBC contributor Richard Wolffe said on "The Last Word."

Vice President Joe Biden is rallying a defense of his boss, fighting slurs that President Obama is in over his head and lashing out at "Tea Party Republicans." In Oklahoma this week where Obama isn't high in the polls, the veep said the president isn't just smart, he's got strength and character. "People knew Barack was really bright, they knew Barack was straight, they knew Barack was a different kind of politician. What they didn't know was just how strong he was. Republicans spent a lot of time trying to tag him as a follower, not a leader. Well, he's...

New applications for unemployment compensation fell by 12,000 last week to 409,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Initial claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 421,000 from an original reading of 417,000. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected new requests for jobless benefits to drop to 405,000 in the week of Aug. 27 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

In their quest to widen the low-road and increase its rider-ship, the liberal Washington, D.C-based Politico just offered up this hackneyed but oh so predictable headline: “Is Rick Perry Dumb?” Really? While it’s no surprise to conservatives and independents that the liberal mainstream media would pull out the old “attack Ronald Reagan” hand-book, dust it off, and use its previously discredited assaults to go after the surging Perry, a better question to be asked is: “What are they all so afraid of?” First of all, something which must be highlighted and stressed by all who care about fairness and accuracy...

On TV Now. Only way to put workers back to work he says, is to fix trans and aviation with his people. And he has jobs council identifying infrastructure projects to put people to work. (In short, he wants more stimulus money.) A preview of his jobs speech no doubt. He wants more taxes to spend on bridges, roads, etc.

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Zahar hinted Tuesday there may be attempts on Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas should he visit Gaza. In an interview with the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi, Zahar added Abbas would not be visiting Gaza. Zahar stressed that Hamas was not interested in jeopardizing the internal security situation in the Gaza Strip should Abbas decide to visit and cause internal Fatah violence to occur as a result of "unsettled accounts." According to al-Quds al-Arabi, Zahar may have been referring to the ongoing conflict between the Palestinian Authority chairman and ex-Fatah official and strident Abbas critic Muhammad Dahlan. Recently, pointing...

Iran "discreetly" provided humanitarian aid to Libyan rebels before the fall of Tripoli, Jam-e-Jam newspaper quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday as saying. "We were in touch with many of the rebel groups in Libya before the fall of (Moamer) Kadhafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi," Salehi told the daily. "The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, sent a letter of thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for having been on their side and helping," he added. Since the Libyan uprising erupted in mid-February, Iran has adopted a...

The rebel military leader of Tripoli, Abdelhakim Belhaj, has said that one of Gaddafi's son al Saddi called him two hours ago and asked if he can surrender. Al Jazzera's James Bays, reporting from Tripoli said: “We asked him [Abdelhakim Belhaj] about the military situation, remaining members of the Gaddafi family, and he said that he believes one of Gaddafi's sons, al Saddi, is preparing to surrender. "According to Belhaj, Saddi doesn't want to leave Libya, he wants to talk to the national council and negotiate his surrender. He thinks he knows the whereabouts of Saddi Gaddafi from the phone...

The following is a transcript of "The Tom Joyner Morning Show's" interview with President Barack Obama, which aired Tuesday morning. TOM JOYNER: Yeah, it is slow and frustrating. And a lot of people are voicing their opinion about how frustrating it is for us in the black community and the unemployment rate being almost twice as much what the general market employment rate is. I understand. I understand people complaining, but I don't agree with people who are trying to - black people, black leaders who are trying to make you look bad, as if this is all your fault....