Free Republic

I’m going to take the death panel end-of-life planning conundrum down one point at a time to make this very clear for Americans to understand what the Pelosi-led Democrats have done to your healthcare and their attempt to take cover under a Bush-era law–the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. The Hill reported that the Obama White House attempted to calm Americans’ fears of the dreaded death panels: The Medicare policy will pay doctors for holding end-of-life-care discussions with patients, according to the Times. A similar provision was dropped from the new healthcare reform law after Republicans...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush vetoed the $300 billion farm bill on Wednesday, calling it a tax increase on regular Americans at a time of high food prices in the face of a near-certain override by Congress. It was the 10th veto of Bush's presidency. But since it passed both houses of Congress with veto-proof majorities, his action will likely be overridden. The president believes the legislation is fiscally irresponsible and gives away too much money to wealthy farmers, yet his criticism rang hollow with lawmakers from both parties who voted for increased crop subsidies, food stamps for the poor...

The powerful Iraqi cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr called President George W. Bush the Antichrist on Saturday and urged him to heed calls by the opposition Democrats to withdraw from the chaos of Iraq. In fresh violence on Saturday, 14 people were killed and 39 others were wounded in a suicide car bombing in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala south of Baghdad, a hospital said. A Reuters witness said he saw tens of casualties. Sadr, whose ministers quit Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government this month, renewed his demand for a U.S. pullout a day after Bush pledged...

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

Even as their confrontation with President Bush over Iraq escalates, emboldened congressional Democrats are challenging the White House on a range of issues -- such as unionization of airport security workers and the loosening of presidential secrecy orders -- with even more dramatic showdowns coming soon. For his part, Bush, who also finds himself under assault for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the conduct of the Iraq war and alleged abuses in government surveillance by the FBI, is holding firm. Though he has vetoed only one piece of legislation since taking office, he has vowed to veto 16 bills...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Tuesday threatened a presidential veto of legislation giving the District of Columbia a vote in the House, possibly prolonging a two-century-long wait for representation in Congress. The bill, the White House said in a statement, violates constitutional language saying the House should be made up of representatives chosen by the people of the states. "The District of Columbia is not a state," it said, and if the legislation reaches President Bush's desk, "his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill." The House is to vote Friday on the legislation that would...

WASHINGTON-President Bush probably would veto a Sept. 11 antiterrorism bill if it includes a Democratic-sponsored provision to let federal airport screeners unionize, a Republican senator said Tuesday. "The president's message on the bill is going to come out tomorrow. I think that it will contain a veto threat on the TSA collective bargaining position," Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, said, referring to the Transportation Security Administration. Collins said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told her of the impending veto threat. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Such a veto threat...

Last week, the same day President Bush vetoed a bill that would have forced taxpayers to further subsidize embryonic stem-cell experimentation, he signed the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006. The former got lots of negative press; the latter caused barely a stir. The latter bode poorly for embryonic stem-cell research's public image. Better to ignore. At any rate, a ban on fetus farming wasn't controversial, passing unanimously in both the Senate and House. Fetus farming seems far-fetched. But ratifying FFPA scythed a huge swath through plans of embryonic stem-cell harvesters – laudable quick work by pro-life academics and...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A disability rights advocate who has been a spinal cord injured quadriplegic for nearly four decades says she is happy President Bush vetoed a bill that would have forced taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research. Joni Eareckson Tada was among those gathered at the White House as the president announced why he vetoed the measure.Joining fellow disability advocates, ethicists, researchers, theologians and legislators, Tada said she stands with "countless Americans with disabilities who believe that our cause is not advanced when human life is sacrificed in hopes of finding a cure.""People like me --...

(AgapePress) - Leading up to the recent vote in Congress on funding for embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR), proponents of that research took a swipe at a well-known proponent of adult stem-cell research in a scientific journal, hoping to discredit him. Instead, the "accusers" may have inadvertently opened up discussion in an area where ESCR is considerably weak.Dr. David Prentice is a founding member of the group Do No Harm--The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, as well as senior fellow for life science issues at the Family Research Council in Washington, DC. He is also a visiting professor at...