Free Republic

Health Care: The medical revolution the Democratic Congress is set to enact won't fix cost problems, independent experts warn. And the fix that it will leave us in will, by design, lead to single-payer socialism. If you listened to last year's campaign rhetoric, you probably thought a health overhaul was all about controlling costs. The eight-page proposal from Barack Obama's campaign, after all, wasn't called "remaking the health care system" or "government takeover of American medicine," which would have been accurate descriptions. It was titled "Barack Obama and Joe Biden's plan to lower health care costs and ensure affordable, accessible...

Junk Science: The oracle of climate disaster has a new book out on global warming that should be on the fiction list. He asks us to commit economic suicide while he rakes in millions from his green investments. 'Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis," Al Gore's sequel to his 2006 tome "An Inconvenient Truth," came out Tuesday. Printed on recycled paper using low-VOC (volatile organic compound) ink, it will undoubtedly be a best-seller and on the desk of every attendee at next month's climate change conference in Copenhagen. In a press release announcing the book, the Oscar-...

The Arabs carry on a continuous "war of nerves", cleverly using the press, UN and Western gullibility --or seminal Anti-Seminism--to isolate Israel and weaken it from psychologically from within and without. Here's how. “One need not destroy one's enemy. One need only destroy his willingness to engage. “ Sun Tzu The recent Arab riots on the Temple Mount and inside Jerusalem’s Old City, the Goldstone Report, academic and economic boycotts as well as other tactics are part of the familiar ongoing war against Israel. The Arabs employ a number of psychological techniques to demoralize Israelis in order to convince them...

Judea and Samaria are suburbs, states Dr. Sheila Lampert. When a resident of Judea or Samaria is arrested, he is not a "settler" but an Israeli who lives in a particular suburb--one that also acts as a buffer zone for the rest of Israel In the language of the Bible they were called settlements, and the Israelites answered the call of G-d to ‘settle’ the land. In the language of today, they are the ‘suburbs’ Webster’s dictionary defines as ‘outlying residential communities’. And for the most part they are closer to Israeli cities and towns than New York suburbs to...

Taxation: Policymakers piled up a $1.4 trillion deficit for fiscal 2009. The figure is so high that if Congress were to use the income tax to balance the budget, rates would have to be nearly tripled. The 2009 deficit was larger than the combined federal debt of the first two centuries of the country's existence. As staggering as that is to the mind, the 2010 deficit projects to be even bigger, roughly $1.5 trillion. The rates for joint filers earning at least $373,601 would have to be almost tripled, from 35% to 95.2%, to help close the 2010 deficit. (See...

Health Care: The giant health care bill that just passed will cost far more than its authors estimated. Which means it'll also require massive new tax hikes on all Americans, rich, middle class and poor alike. Congress has barely finished blowing the ink dry on its bill, but already its central fiscal premise is being convincingly challenged. While Democrats have claimed the overhaul will cost $900 billion, the Congressional Budget Office puts the real cost at $1.1 trillion. The Associated Press, citing unnamed Democratic sources, comes up with $1.2 trillion; Republicans say it'll cost $1.3 trillion or more; others say...

This is the sixth installment of a nine-part series excerpting the chapter on medical care from the new edition of economist Thomas Sowell's "Applied Economics."While past costs are irrelevant to present decision-making — they are history but they are not economics — those past costs do matter when pharmaceutical companies decide whether, or to what extent, to invest in developing more new drugs. If those past costs have not been covered, future costs may not be as readily incurred to create future drugs to cure or prevent such scourges as Alzheimer's, AIDS or cancer. Despite such weighty economic considerations —...

One of the strongest talking points of those who want a government-run medical care system is that we simply cannot afford the high and rising costs of medical care under the current system. First of all, what we can afford has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of producing anything. We will either pay those costs or not get the benefits. Moreover, if we cannot afford the quantity and quality of medical care that we want now, the government has no miraculous way of enabling us to afford it in the future. If you think the government can lower...

The founders envisioned a federal government constitutionally limited to defending our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For that to happen, we must have at least one political party that strongly advocates limiting the power of government. For much of the 19th century, that party was the Democrats. For the early part of the 20th century and from the early 1960s through 1988, that party was the Republicans. Today, it is difficult to find noninterventionists in either party. The Democrats demonstrate a disdain for capitalism, free trade and the validity of contracts. They cheer the restriction of...

Yes, he has made millions of dollars from his documentaries which attack the profit motive of the capitalist system, and this does indeed look like the most embarrassing irony for him. But when you understand him, or at least when you understand his misunderstanding of capitalism, you will see that he is not in fact consciously contradicting himself. He is merely a victim of a common but very subtle economic fallacy that has afflicted societies since ancient times.

Dear Friends, I pulled this twit from Doug Hoffman's Campaign facebook page: Tweet, Facebook, text, IM, make calls -- but get out the vote. Let the voice of the people, not the Pelosis be heard. #tcot LETS GET GOING AND Make some GOTV calls for him, and other buzz on the webb to help keep Mr. Hoffman's momentum gong..! The same can be said for Mr. Christie up in New Jersey as well..(and Harmer in CA 10), McDonnell.

Although it is cheaper to buy a pint of milk than to buy a quart of milk, nobody considers that to be lowering the price of milk. Although it is cheaper to buy a lower quality of all sorts of goods than to buy a higher quality, nobody thinks of that as lowering the price of either lower or higher quality goods. Yet, when it comes to medical care, there seems to be remarkably little attention paid to questions of both quantity and quality, in the rush to "bring down the cost of medical care." There is no question that...

A Hoffman staffer tells NRO that a Hoffman supporter had his tires slashed this afternoon near United Methodist Church on Beakman Street in Plattsburgh. A police report has been filed.

It is no surprise that America's renewed focus on the separation between state and federal authority has created an almost hysterical rage on the Left. Collectivist ideologues are always necessarily threatened by divisions of power. But rather than shame dissenters into silence with labels like "tenther," the disdain shown by the political class and its sycophants for the Constitution has only heightened the growing tension between those in America who desire absolute central government, and those who still believe in the federalism and freedom of our founding.

And Romney was nowhere to be seen. BY BRENDAN MINITER Amidst the stunning events in New York's 23rd congressional district -- with Republican-turned-independent Doug Hoffman suddenly surging to the front and likely to win today's race -- collateral damage has been suffered by some of the GOP's presidential hopefuls who misread the race and the mood of the Republican electorate. Mitt Romney -- formerly a man who seemed willing to show up and plug for any Republican anywhere to pick up a few chits -- was nowhere to be seen in the district. Mike Huckabee, a favorite for religious conservatives...

Is what's going on in New York's 23rd Congressional District a GOP civil war or not? If you ask me, it's not. The media and their friends on the left, including White House adviser Valerie Jarrett on ABC News, are doing their best to turn Dede Scozzafava's withdrawal from the race and endorsement of her Democratic opponent into another example of Republican feuding over "litmus tests." They just can't help themselves. In fact, Jarrett calls Republicans "more and more extreme," yet it's the liberals who have worked themselves into a hissy fit of angry rhetoric. Take a look at Frank...

A high percentage of Americans believed race relations would improve with the election of America's first black president. Today, that percentage has dropped dramatically. Could it be because the Obama administration, at every turn, has shamelessly exploited race to further its agenda? The message of the liberal media/Obama administration tag team comes across loud and clear. If you disagree with Obama, we will brand you a racist and we will hurt you. If this administration was made into a movie it should be titled, "Mr. Chicago Thug Goes to Washington". Bullying (banks, the auto industry, insurance companies, national Chamber of...

Regardless of your tribal affiliations, were you cautiously optimistic when our new president promised to "restore science to its rightful place" in the formulation of public policy? Were you embarrassed by the prior occupant's politicization of issues that should have been decided on a more scientific basis? Did you assume that Barack Obama would surround himself with apolitical science advisors unencumbered by embarrassing anti-science baggage and free of culture-war axes to grind? To paraphrase a once famous mayor of New York - So how's he doing so far? You're probably aware that the H1N1 swine flu vaccine supply has fallen...

November 02, 2009, 4:00 a.m. A New Isolationism?A few months ago, Afghanistan was a “war of necessity.” What changed? By Conrad Black The Obama administration’s shilly-shallying in Afghanistan is a textbook case of how not to conduct a war, and how not to lead an alliance. In the 2006 and 2008 campaigns, the Democrats demanded the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and accused the Bush administration of conducting an unnecessary war in that country while ignoring the original campaign in Afghanistan, where the 9/11 terrorist attacks were planned. As recently as two months ago, President Obama called Afghanistan a...

Congress is working on a new and even more generous set of perks for house buyers. A tentative deal in the U.S. Senate would extend the closing deadline for an $8,000 subsidy for first-time buyers to July 1 from Nov. 30. It would also boost the program's income limits for singles to $125,000 from $75,000 and for couples to $250,000 from $150,000, and would offer a new $6,500 reward for existing homeowners who buy again. (More on the home buyer tax credit.) The National Association of Realtors has called such an extension "essential." The Mortgage Bankers Association agrees. The National...

Obama used the War in Afghanistan to get elected. He then announced that the “War on Terror” was “over”. And now, stuck between either keeping his campaign promise or surrendering to his far-left base that is slowly abandoning their support for the war, he is stalling on making clear decisions on Afghanistan (while using the dignified transfer of our fallen soldiers as yet another opening for a photo-op.) Rapid response. Taking the necessary actions under pressure. Making the right decisions and sticking to them. All of these are qualities a president absolutely needs to have in wartime for the sake...

Be prepared to see more of Levi Johnston than you ever wanted to see. The 19-year-old who fathered a baby born out of wedlock to Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Bristol is about to pose nude for Playgirl magazine. Also, with Palin's book "Going Rogue" set for release this month, some publications may follow Vanity Fair's example in October by granting the high school dropout a byline. In that piece, Johnston claimed that Palin did not nurture her children - or cook or clean - while husband Todd tinkered in the garage or slept on a black recliner in the living...

Last week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, the boy-wonder politician sought out by network cameras at the Democratic National Convention, profiled in Newsweek and the New York Times, was forced to pull out of the race for California governor before opponent Jerry Brown even officially declared his candidacy. Newsom's campaign wasn't sputtering. It never got off the ground. A candidate who raised nearly $6 million for his 2003 bid for mayor (with maximum contributions limited to $500) only raised a little over $3 million this time, according to the California secretary of state's office. It was a harsh political lesson....

Doug Hoffman for CongressDear friends, Today is Election Day. We have fought long and hard to get here. All our efforts now come down to making sure that our supporters vote. I'm running for Congress because I sense the America I love is being taken away from us. I want to tell Washington : No more bailouts. No more taxes. No more trillion dollar deficits. That's what I'm fighting for, and I know that’s what you’ve been fighting for too. Let’s make sure that our fight bears fruit. Let’s make sure all our supporters vote today. My opponent is a...

As we marvel (or worry) about the Dow reaching 10,000, let's look again at how closely the crash and recovery are tracking the 1970s. From January 1973 to December 1974--23 months--stocks fell 48%. Over 17 months (October 2007 to March 2009) stocks dropped 54%--a little faster and more dramatically, but comparable. In 1975 stocks rose 38%, in 1976 another 24%. The bounce from this year's Mar. 9 low is nearly 60%. Again, faster, bolder but roughly the same, so far. The 1975--76 rally didn't last. What torpedoed stocks from 1977 to 1982? It was the 1976 election, which elevated an...

When America is about to throw an ally to the wolves, we follow an established ritual. We discover that the man we supported was never really morally fit to be a friend or partner of the United States. When Chiang Kai-shek, who fought the Japanese for four years before Pearl Harbor, began losing to Mao's Communists, we did not blame ourselves for being a faithless ally, we blamed him. He was incompetent; he was corrupt. We did not lose China. He did. When Buddhist monks began immolating themselves in South Vietnam, the cry went up: President Diem, once hailed as...

I labeled it "Health Care Overhaul IV" for convenience. In fact, a new 2,000-page behemoth seems to emerge more than once a week from the maw of Congress, so it's becoming impossible to keep track. Until now, my reasons for opposing this fright mask were entirely dispassionate and flowed from 1) common sense (how are they going to provide more care for less money, and can we afford another huge entitlement when existing ones are going bankrupt?); 2) experience (government entitlements always cost far more than projections and government is far less efficient at providing services than the private sector);...

In his first year in office, Barack Obama has visited more foreign countries than any other president. He's touched ground in 16 countries, easily outpacing Bill Clinton (three) and George W. Bush (eleven). It's an itinerary befitting a "citizen of the world." But there's one stop Obama won't make. He has begged off going to Berlin next week to attend ceremonies commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. His schedule is reportedly too crowded. John F. Kennedy famously told Berliners, "Ich bin ein Berliner." On the 20th anniversary of the last century's most stirring triumph of freedom, Obama is telling...

No sooner had we celebrated the exit of Barack Obama's green jobs czar, Van Jones, because of his Communist connections, another off-the-wall administration embarrassment surfaced. President Obama nominated for commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) a woman who signed a radical manifesto endorsing polygamy. We thought our nation had settled the polygamy issue a century and a half ago, but this nomination makes it a 21st century controversy. Obama's nominee for the EEOC, a lesbian law-school professor named Chai R. Feldblum, signed a 2006 manifesto endorsing polygamous households (i.e., "in which there is more than one conjugal partner")....

There's a vicious rumor being reported in Washington. It says President Obama was holding off his announcement of new troop movements into Afghanistan not until after Hamid Karzai's election runoff that had been scheduled for November 8, but until after today's closely-watched off-year elections. The basis for that rumor is the idea that Obama would not want to depress his own base, discourage "peace" voters from voting in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York's 23rd congressional district. I reject that rumor. I do not believe this President, or any President, would so callously disregard the lives of the soldiers, sailors,...

Does the U.S. Constitution stand for anything in an era of government excess? Can that founding document, which is supposed to restrain the power and reach of a centralized federal government, slow down the juggernaut of czars, health insurance overhaul and anything else this administration and Congress wish to do that is not in the Constitution? The Framers created a limited government, thus ensuring individuals would have the opportunity to become all that their talents and persistence would allow. The Left has put aside the original Constitution in favor of a "living document" that they believe allows them to do...

There's been no shortage of nonsense and misinformation regarding opposition to President Barack Obama's plans to overhaul America's health care system. Unfortunately, the recent contribution on these pages by Pinchas Landau only makes matters worse. In his column "Better dead than red" (September 4), Landau posits that only American selfishness and paranoia of anything labeled "socialized medicine" can account for what he deems unthinking, irrational opposition to governmental takeover of one-sixth of the US economy. He summarizes all American opposition to nationalization thusly: "Better that they (the poor, elderly, etc.) die than that we use part of our massive wealth...

Next month, Prof. Ada Yonath will be awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry, becoming the fifth Israeli scientist to win this award. This has sharpened, once again, the grim statistics regarding the scarcity of Nobel laureates in the Muslim and Arab worlds. While Jews, who are only around 0.2 percent of the world population, have won a quarter of all Nobel Prizes awarded in the sciences, Muslims, who are one quarter of the world population, have won only a handful, even by the most generous accounts. And while relative to its size, Israel's tiny academia has been the world's leading...

<p>Old Soviet joke: Moscow, 1953. Stalin calls in Khrushchev. "Niki, I'm dying. Don't have much to leave you. Just three envelopes. Open them, one at a time, when you get into big trouble."</p> <p>Obama salutes as the transfer case containing the remains of Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin who died in Afghanistan is carried by on Thursday. The president is now reconsidering the new strategy for Afghanistan he formulated seven months ago which advocated against a troop surge. Photo: AP A few years later, first crisis. Khrushchev opens envelope 1: "Blame everything on me. Uncle Joe." A few years later, a really big crisis. Opens envelope 2: "Blame everything on me. Again. Good luck, Uncle Joe." Third crisis. Opens envelope 3: "Prepare three envelopes."</p>

For the past nine months, the Obama team has waged a campaign of political convenience against lobbyists. Its policies against so-called special interests include: a refusal to accept lobbyists' campaign contributions, a ban on employing lobbyists within the administration, discouraging lobbyists' contact with government workers, new rules that will result in the public disclosure of every lobbyist who visits the White House, and a directive to exclude lobbyists from serving on department and federal agency boards and commissions. All of this is meant to give the impression of purity. But this is illusory. At the same time that the White...

These are the times that try conservatives’ souls. A liberal president wants funding for defense slashed. Congress aims to increase taxes and regulate just about everything. Activist judges create new “rights” while ignoring long-standing precedent. So why remain upbeat? Because our country still has the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They’re the touchstones of our liberty -- and the conservative trump cards in the battle of ideas. “We don’t need to remake America, or discover new and untested principles,” writes scholar Matthew Spalding in his latest book. “The change we need is not the rejection of America’s principles but...

A battle in the war against radical Islam in Detroit was briefly waged on October 28 when the FBI engaged in a deadly shootout with an extremist imam refusing to be arrested. The imam was a leader in “Ummah,” meaning “the brotherhood,” a group said to consist of mostly African-Americans, many of whom converted in prison. This group isn’t the only one trying to create an Islamic state within the borders of the U.S., and this shoot-out should be expected, unfortunately, to be a sign of more violent conflict coming down the line in this country with Islamic militant groups.The...

CAIR: We Have a Problem – by Jamie GlazovPosted By Jamie Glazov On November 3, 2009 @ 12:16 am In FrontPage | 5 Comments Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dave Gaubatz, the first U.S. civilian (1811) Federal Agent deployed to Iraq in 2003. He is the owner of DG Counter-terrorism Publishing [1]. He is currently conducting a 50 State Counter-terrorism Research Tour (CTRT). He is the co-author (with Paul Sperry) of the new book, Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America. [2] He can be contacted at davegaubatz@gmail.com [3].FP: Dave Gaubatz, congratulations on your new book...

So Nancy Pelosi and President Obama are adamant that Congress pass their health care bill. They’ve dismissed the August protesters and are pushing for passage as soon as possible. But, what does this mean for the average American (we’ll call her Mary Smith), a single mother of two struggling to get by in a down economy. She hears terms like “individual mandate,” “employer mandate,” and “CBO score.” But none of this helps her understand what health care reform means for her. Mary wants to help the uninsured, but why is Congress talking about changing her plan? And why does every...

Those of us who are not true believers in expanded government are certain of the following: If the 1,990-page House Health Care Bill becomes law, the average American will receive worse health care, American physicians will decline in status and income, American medical innovation will dramatically slow down and pharmaceutical discoveries will decline in number and quality. And, of course, the economy of the United States will deteriorate, perhaps permanently. However, we are also certain that there is one American group that will thrive -- trial lawyers. The very existence of a 1,990-page law guarantees years of, if not more...

Conservatives owe a lot to great men like Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley who helped keep the fires of conservatism burning when the movement was barely holding together. Without their efforts conservatism would likely not have gotten this far, this fast. That being said, in the last 30 years, conservatism has become considerably stronger, more popular, and more effective than it was in Goldwater and Buckley's heyday. There are three men who deserve to be heralded for that success above all others. Of course, Ronald Reagan deserves the lion's share of the credit for proving that conservative ideas work...

Two weeks ago, I received a letter from the radiology department at a large university medical center in my state. The return address specified their mammography registry. Assuming that it was a reminder to get my yearly exam, I started to toss it out. Then I remembered that I'd never had a mammogram at that hospital. So I opened the letter. The first sentence was quite a surprise: Dear Ms. Carol Peracchio: I am writing to notify you about a security breach that may have resulted in the unauthorized exposure of your personal information. The letter explained that a computer...

Return to the Article November 03, 2009Twenty-five years after the Reagan landslideBy Bruce Walker Election Day, 1984 -- twenty five years ago -- many thought that the ideological battle of America was won. President Reagan, the disciple of "Mr. Conservative" Barry Goldwater ran against Walter Mondale, the disciple of "Mr. Liberal" Hubert Humphrey.  Reagan got into politics with "The Speech" endorsing Barry Goldwater.  Here is what Reagan said in 1964:  This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite...

For Washington go to http://protectmarriagewa.com/ and and for Maine http://www.standformarriagemaine.com/index.php?home=1 If you know anyone in these states that can go vote to protect marriage or can donate, get other people to the polls let them know

New York Republican congressional nominee Dede Scozzafava withdrew last weekend from the special election that will take place Tuesday and endorsed the Democrat, Bill Owens, in a race where a third party candidate, Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, has become a major contender. Yes, you read that right. In one of the most Republican districts in New York, one that borders Canada, Scozzafava ran up against a mass revolt by mainstream Republicans who charged that her long list of liberal credentials made her a “RINO” or Republican In Name Only. The 23rd congressional district race is this year's only congressional...

After Jon Corzine appeared to pull back into the race for his re-election to the governor’s chair in New Jersey, Barack Obama poured on the support to help push him over the top. According to the final PPP poll in New Jersey, it didn’t work. Corzine has fallen off the pace and now trails outside the margin of error in the Garden State, with Chris Christie pulling away in the final week: Chris Christie leads Jon Corzine 47-41 in PPP’s final poll of the New Jersey Governor’s race, with Chris Daggett at 11%. Corzine had pulled to within a point...

This news breaks too late to make much of a difference, but it simply confirms what many have long suspected: that the Democrats have so much of a vested interest in independent Christopher Daggett splitting the anti-incumbent vote that they are putting resources into promoting him. The Democratic State Committee now admits paying for a robocall to Somerset County voters that slams Republican Chris Christie and promotes independent gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett. A Democratic spokeswoman says the party’s chairman, Joe Cryan, was not aware of the robocalls when he denied that the state committee had anything to do with them...

The left avers that many Americans are poverty-stricken, that we need to do more to alleviate their plight, and that the primary role of government is to help them. Let us examine these claims. 'Poverty' may be viewed as harsh deprivation, such as in Biafra or the Congo. Yet nobody in America starves to death. It is true that the standard of living of illegals from Mexico is far below ours, yet even they are far better off than the inhabitants of third-world countries. Nor do the poor in America suffer as did those during the Great Depression. Consider the...

I don't follow the monetary and fiscal problems of other countries very closely. We've got enough of a crisis here to worry about anywhere else. But during the stim bill debate, you may recall liberals pointing to Japan's "stimulus spending" in the decade of the 1990's as an example of how to get out of a deep recession. Maybe they should have read the fine print as Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the Telegraph explains: The IMF expects Japan's gross public debt to reach 218pc of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, 227pc next year, and 246pc by 2014. This has been...

The political guns barely fall silent from one campaign before resuming a barrage in the next. They're rumbling now in New Jersey and Virginia — the first skirmish before next year's national midterm elections. American politics usually stays in a narrow range: Two parties collide and congressional totals don't change much. When changes do occur, it is usually the result of one side's supporters staying home. The effect is an illusion of great swings in the electorate. The 2008 election followed this pattern in part. A Census Bureau study found that non-Hispanic whites' voting rate declined by 1 percentage point...