Freedom Line Blog

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

Senik:  10 Things to Hate About the State of the Union
CFIF Staff:  Bloomberg Joins All Who Just Say No to New York City Terrorist Trials
Lee:  Approaching a Global Warming Agenda Stop Sign, Obama Decides to Floor It
Ellis:  Texas Governor Rick Perry Says No to Obama Education Department’s “Race to the Top” Initiative

Freedom Minute Video:  The Return of Free Speech
Podcast:  EPA Climate Change Mandates Based on Flawed, Questionable and Potentially Fraudulent Data
Jester’s Courtroom:  Now Hear This: Listen at Own Risk

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

During his weekly press briefing yesterday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) had “some good news” to report.

Hoyer noted that federal revenues (taxpayer dollars the federal government takes out of your paycheck) have stopped declining, which is a sign that the American people are “making money.”  Taken at face value, that is good news.

But the part about Americans making more money – in and of itself – is not what the Majority Leader was excited about.  Rather, Hoyer’s exuberance was focused on the prospect of Americans paying more taxes as a result.

Specifically, as reported by CNSNews.com, the Majority Leader stated:

We also had some good news for the first time in approximately two years. The projection of revenues has stabilized, not decreased. That is a very good sign because it is a sign that people are in fact making money and will be in a position, because they’re making money, to pay a portion of that in revenues to the federal government.”

In a way, this small glimpse into Hoyer’s mindset explains a lot.  And the current Administration and Congress wonder why the people are screaming mad.

Seemingly oblivious to the message sent by Massachusetts voters – on behalf of the entire nation – last week, Congressional leaders appear to be working to rally support in their caucus behind a series of procedural tactics in an effort to salvage their extremely unpopular health care “reform” bill.  The Associated Press reports:

Democratic congressional leaders are coalescing around their last, best hope for salvaging President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care overhaul. …

Democratic congressional aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is in flux, said the latest strategy involves using a special budget procedure to revise the Senate bill.

The procedural route — known as reconciliation — would allow a majority of 51 senators to amend their bill to address some of the major substantive concerns raised by the House. That would circumvent the need for a 60-vote majority [in the Senate].

Fortunately, at least two Senate Democrats have voiced their opposition to using reconciliation as a way to circumvent the traditional legislative process.  Calling the tactic “ill-advised,” Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) said today he does not support the move.  Likewise, Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) signaled that she opposes passing health care reform via reconciliation.  (H/T  Daniel Foster at The Corner)

It’s unclear at this point whether Pelosi and Reid will garner the support necessary to pull off the procedural move.  Regardless, the fact that they’re even trying proves once again their extreme arrogance.  They just don’t get it.

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama took the oath of office to become our nation’s 44th president. One year later, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses the President’s record thus far and his empty promises of “hope and change.”

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

CFIF Staff:  Massachusetts Special U.S. Senate Election Exit Poll
Senik:  Brown Victory in Massachusetts Kills ObamaCare Either Way
Lee:  Can We Please Stop Labeling Liberals “Elite?”
Batkins:  Early Release: The State of the Union

Freedom Minute Video:  One Year of Obama’s Sweet Nothings
Podcast:  Congressman Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-MI) Discusses Health Care, National Security and More
Jester’s Courtroom:  Not Something to Smile About

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

Are you wondering how all that stimulus money is being spent to create jobs in this country? 

No, not those “stimulus jobs” in nonexistent congressional districts.  Real wage-paying jobs.

CNSNews.com reports:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) spent $30 million in stimulus money in 2009 to hire 585 new bureaucrats who will be responsible for certifying whether people are eligible for disability so they can be paid by the taxpayers not to work.

A report from the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General says that the SSA’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) hired 35 new administrative law judges and 550 staffers to determine whether people are eligible to receive federal disability payments for not working.

That, my friends, is your hard-earned taxpayer dollars at work.

The Associated Press just called it. 

Republican Scott Brown has defeated Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in the race for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts.  

UPDATE:

With 100% of the precincts reporting…

Scott Brown (R):  52% – 1,168,107 votes

Martha Coakley (D):  47% – 1,058,682 votes

Joseph Kennedy (Lib.):  1% – 22,237 votes

For a vote breakdown by town, click here.

On year ago tomorrow, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.  Where exactly are we as a nation one year later?

The Associated Press has put together an interesting compilation of numbers to help answer that question.  Highlights of the AP piece, which is titled “A By-the-Numbers Look at Obama’s First Year,” include:

– 13 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of January 2009.
– 14.7 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of December 2009.
– 7.7 percent—Unemployment rate January 2009
– 10.0 percent—Unemployment rate December 2009
– $787 billion—Cost of economic stimulus approved by Congress.
– $10.6 trillion—Outstanding public debt Jan. 20, 2009
– $12.3 trillion—Outstanding public debt Jan. 14, 2009.

Read the entire piece via Breitbart.com here.

Today, all eyes are on Massachusetts as Bay State voters head to the polls to decide the fate of the U.S. Senate seat previously held by the late Senator Ted Kennedy.  Will Republican State Senator Scott Brown pull it out against Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley?  We will all know soon enough.

The special election between Brown and Coakley is, in large part, a referendum on President Obama’s agenda, including health care reform.  The President himself, while avoiding the health care issue as much as possible, all but admitted as much during a campaign speech for Coakley on Sunday.  If Brown does pull off a victory, Democrats will lose the 60th vote in the Senate needed to sustain their filibuster-proof majority to pass ObamaCare and possibly other legislation on President Obama’s agenda.

But that is not discouraging some in the Democrat leadership, most notably House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  According to Alex Koppelman at Salon.com, Pelosi commented about the situation during an event in San Francisco yesterday:

“Let’s remove all doubt, we will have healthcare one way or another. … Certainly the dynamic would change depending on what happens in Massachusetts. Just the question about how we would proceed. But it doesn’t mean we won’t have a health care bill.”   

How can the Speaker be so confident?  According to a report in yesterday’s New York Times:

The White House and Democratic Congressional leaders, scrambling for a backup plan to rescue their health care legislation if Republicans win the special election in Massachusetts on Tuesday, have begun laying the groundwork to ask House Democrats to approve the Senate version of the bill and send it directly to President Obama for his signature.

In other words, Plan B for Pelosi appears to be to ask her caucus just to approve the Senate-passed health care bill, avoiding another vote in the Senate altogether.  That’s a big ask considering the numerous and significant complaints many in her caucus have expressed about the Senate bill.

If Scott Brown wins today in the most liberal state in the Union, the message to rank-and-file Democrats about health care “reform” and President Obama’s overall agenda should be clear.  If Brown wins and they continue to follow Pelosi’s lead and pass ObamaCare “one way or another,” they ignore that clear message at their own peril.

Check out one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

Lee:  The Obama Administration Plays the Role of Sybil
Senik:  Terror and Honesty
CFIF Release:  CFIF to FCC – Proposed “Net Neutrality” Rules Would Smother Internet Innovation and Damage the American Economy
Batkins:  President Obama’s Health Care Snake Oil
Ellis:  National Security After the “Undie-Bomber”
CFIF Staff:  Martha Coakley: Candidate-at-Large

Freedom Minute Video:  50 Way to Defeat ObamaCare
Podcast:  How Will ObamaCare Affect You? – Interview with Vincent Frakes
Jester’s Courtroom:  Caution: Lawsuit

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses how the nation’s governors may be the key to defeating ObamaCare. 

Watch the video below:

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

Finally, a sudden bout of honesty from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on ObamaCare.

Before you get excited, however, you should read for yourself what she had to say, as reported by CBS News:

“The House and Senate plan [is] to put together the final health care reform bill behind closed doors according to an agreement by top Democrats,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today at the White House.

In other words, after days of spewing laughable tales of how “open and transparent” the legislative process on health care has been, the Speaker has decided to be “open and transparent” about how non-transparent Congressional Democrats plan to be moving forward in their efforts to pass ObamaCare.

For more on this issue, read CFIF’s commentary titled, “The Transparency of the Presidential Lie.”

The Labor Department this morning reported that nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 85,000 in December, bringing the total number of jobs lost in 2009 to a whopping 4.2 million.

As Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) Vice President of Legal and Public Affairs Timothy Lee wrote this week in a commentary posted on CFIF’s website, “the latest economic data continue to suggest that our recovery is weaker than it otherwise should be, due to malignant federal policies.”

Lee points to a recently released survey  by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), which makes his point:

According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), a tiny 7% of small businesses (which account for approximately 2/3 of new jobs) expect near-term expansion and the type of risk-taking necessary for sustained prosperity.  Further, only 8% of NFIB respondents expect near-term employment opportunities.  The same NFIB report also states that capital investment and expenditures have dropped to a 35-year low.”

The reason?  Lee writes:

According to the NFIB survey, businesses report that the current political climate stands high among the reasons for tepid recovery, even ahead of the ability to secure loans.  The survey goes on to cite ‘the level of uncertainty being created by government, the usual source of uncertainty for the economy.  The ‘turbulence’ created when Congress is in session is often debilitating, this year being one of the worst.’ …

“…The continuing onslaught of more government spending, borrowing and regulation will not bring the type of recovery that we should expect, but rather perpetuate an inhospitable economic climate.  When we return to time-tested policies that encourage private investment, risk-taking and hiring – less confiscation of wealth, greater protection of property rights and fewer oxygen-depleting regulations – is when sustainable, long-term growth will return.”

In other words, when it comes to job losses and the slow economic recovery, It’s Washington, Stupid!

Read Lee’s full commentary piece here.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

CFIF Staff:  The Transparency of the Presidential Lie
Lee:  Latest Data Suggests Obamanomics Continues to Stifle Rebound
Senik:  At Decade’s End
Batkins:  Freedom on the March in 2010?

Freedom Minute Video:  Come Bomb the Friendly Skies
Podcast:  Arctic Freeze Blanketing South Caused by Global Warming? – Interview with CEI founder Fred Smith
Jester’s Courtroom:  Take Me Out To The … Courtroom

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses the Obama Administration’s response to Umar Abdulmutallab’s attempted terrorist attack aboard a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.