Free Republic

Rep. John Fleming said Tuesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should step down because her agency had three years to prepare for the debut of online insurance markets that have been plagued by computer glitches. Mr. Fleming, Louisiana Republican, said the new health care law is a “ship in search of an iceberg” that will harm the nation once it’s fully implemented, a claim that diverges from the White House’s insistence that online markets tied to the law will improve during a six-month open enrollment period that began Oct. 1. “The rest of it is going to...

This morning, I received the following email, which is currently being circulated around the internet: Congressman John Fleming (Louisiana physician) has proposed an amendment that would require congressmen and senators to take the same healthcare plan they force on us (under proposed legislation they are curiously exempt). Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go on his Website and sign his petition at: http://fleming.house.gov/index.html. Please urge as many people as you can to do the same! If Congress forces this on the American people, the Congressmen should have to accept the same level of health care for themselves and their families.

Health Reform: If Democrats in Washington think their health care reform with a public option is a good thing, why have they exempted themselves from it? Why isn't what's good for their constituents good for them?During ABC's June 24 infomercial for government-run health care broadcast from the White House, President Obama was asked if he and his family would abide by the restrictions and limitations that came with his proposed reforms. In what Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com called "Obama's Michael Dukakis moment," President Obama refused to make such a pledge and confessed that if "it's my family member, if it's...

Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) said he was “disturbed” by President Barack Obama’s request to have the symbolic name for Jesus Christ – IHS – covered from a pediment that was visible behind him when he spoke at Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall on April 14. “I join many Christians in expressing my outrage at this request,” Fleming said after requesting one minute to speak on the House floor. “This administration has no problem spending money imprinted with the phrase, ‘In God We Trust,’ but won’t have our president speak with any symbol of Christ in public view,” Fleming said. “We begin...

Will Hayden, the star of Discovery Channel's Sons of Guns TV show was arrested for aggravated rape of an 11-year old girl in East Baton Rouge, LA. Discovery has cancelled the show and Red Jacket Firearms has severed all business ties with Hayden. Sorry, I cannot post a link.

Louisiana GOP Senate candidate Rob Maness filed legal complaints against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu on Friday, saying questions about her residency should disqualify her from the ballot. A week ago, Maness, a Tea Party-backed retired Air Force colonel, informed the Louisiana secretary of state of inconsistencies in Landrieu’s residency status. The Washington Post looked into the issue and found she listed her parents’ home in New Orleans to qualify for the ballot, but listed her home on Capitol Hill in Washington as her home address. "The Constitution, Louisiana law and common sense say candidates for Senate have to live...

This is…not what embattled "Louisiana" Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu wanted to read in the Washington Post -- which, as it turns out, is her hometown paper: In Washington, Sen. Mary Landrieu lives in a stately, $2.5 million brick manse she and her husband built on Capitol Hill. Here in Louisiana, however, the Democrat does not have a home of her own. She is registered to vote at a large bungalow in New Orleans that her parents have lived in for many decades, according to a Washington Post review of Landrieu’s federal financial disclosures and local property and voting records. On...

Netting six Senate seats is a challenge, especially since part of that equation would require Republicans to retain their own competitive seats in places like Georgia and Kentucky. But Republicans believe that the stars, moons, and planets are all aligning for just such a changing tide this November.

The water system in Reserve, Garyville and Mount Airy has tested positive for a potentially deadly brain-eating bacteria, the state Department of Health and Hospitals said Wednesday. Officials say the Naegleria fowleri amoeba was found in samples taken from St. John the Baptist Parish's Water District No. 1, which serves 12,577 people in those east bank communities. There are no known cases of illness from the bacteria. But officials warned residents to take precautions against getting water in their nasal passages, which is how the amoeba can move to the brain. "Families can take simple steps to protect themselves from...

NEW ORLEANS — In Washington, Sen. Mary Landrieu lives in a stately, $2.5 million brick manse she and her husband built on Capitol Hill. Here in Louisiana, however, the Democrat does not have a home of her own. She is registered to vote at a large bungalow in New Orleans that her parents have lived in for many decades, according to a Washington Post review of Landrieu’s federal financial disclosures and local property and voting records. On a statement of candidacy Landrieu filed with the Federal Election Commission in January, she listed her Capitol Hill home as her address. But...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he was filing a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Obama administration over alleged manipulation of grant money to force states to accept Common Core as their school standards. Mr. Jindal is also accusing the White House of manipulating the regulatory process to compel states to take the much-disputed educational program, The Associated Press reported. The U.S. Department of Education used its $4.3 billion grant program and waiver policy to press states into accepting the same educational testing and standards program. Mr. Jindal said that action “effectively forces states down a path toward a national curriculum,”...

Gov. Bobby Jindal planned to file a lawsuit Wednesday against the Obama administration, accusing it of illegally manipulating federal grant money and regulations to force states to adopt the Common Core education standards. The U.S. Department of Education has used a $4.3 billion grant program and federal policy waivers to encourage states to adopt uniform education standards and testing. The Republican governor says that "effectively forces states down a path toward a national curriculum" in violation of the state sovereignty clause in the Constitution and federal laws that prohibit national control of education content. A draft copy of the lawsuit...

Fox News recently had a political story noting that in several close Senate races in red states, Libertarian candidates might keep the Republican nominee from winning seats held by Democrats today. In the last three election cycles, liberal Democrats in Senate races have won races with less than half the vote, and with the majority of the vote going to the Republican nominee and candidates more conservative than that nominee. In 2008, Mark Begich won in Alaska with 47.8% of the vote, while Republican Ted Stevens earned 46.6% and Bob Bird of the Alaska Independence Party, endorsed by Ron Paul,...

On the final day of qualifying, another Republican candidate for U.S. Senate signed on the dotted line and qualified for the race. Republican candidate and retired Air Force Colonel Rob Maness qualified at the Secretary of State's Office just before 11 a.m. on Friday. A crowd of supporters gathered at the office to cheer Maness on as he qualified. Maness told KTVE/KARD he will be a candidate who upholds the Constitution in office. He promises to protect local veterans by fighting to dismantle the Department of Veterans Affairs and absorbing it into the Department of Defense, abolishing the VA medical...

BATON ROUGE, LA (KTVE/KARD) -- On the final day of qualifying, another Republican candidate for U.S. Senate signed on the dotted line and qualified for the race. Republican candidate and retired Air Force Colonel Rob Maness qualified at the Secretary of State's Office just before 11 a.m. on Friday. A crowd of supporters gathered at the office to cheer Maness on as he qualified. Maness told KTVE/KARD he will be a candidate who upholds the Constitution in office. He promises to protect local veterans by fighting to dismantle the Department of Veterans Affairs and absorbing it into the Department of...

Friend, We have a fight on our hands—and the future of our country is on the line. Obama, Pelosi, and the Democrats have outraised us by $27 MILLION this cycle. That’s a frightening number. We have only 75 days to cut that gap before Election Day in order to beat the Democrats. Friend, this is why I’m reaching out to you personally. Your name is on my list as someone who has not yet contributed to our winning cause this year. I am counting on you to help out by midnight tonight. (SNIP) Friend, every day that passes without your...

Federal officials say about 6,900 Louisiana residents could lose insurance under the Affordable Care Act unless they send copies of citizenship or immigration papers to prove they're eligible. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services says they're among nearly 1 million people nationwide whose citizenship or immigration details don't match government records. It says most sent in the paperwork but 310,000 have not, in spite of many reminders. Those people are getting letters saying coverage will be cancelled unless they send the paperwork by Sept. 5.

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who is vying for a fourth term, is facing a stiff Republican challenge from Rep. Bill Cassidy in the fall. But unlike most other close races this year, this one threatens to leave majority control of the Senate in limbo until the first week of December. Louisiana has what's known as a "jungle primary" system -- candidates of all parties will appear on the same ballot on Nov. 4. If nobody clears 50 percent on Election Day, the top two vote-getters will proceed to a Dec. 6 runoff. The course of the race so far suggests...

A Louisiana district judge removed Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal’s executive order banning Common Core testing on Tuesday. Mr. Jindal has been fighting an uphill battle since June with the state’s board of education to combat Louisiana’s participation in PARCC, a collective of states working together to develop standardizes testing based on Common Core. In a written opinion, Judge Todd Hernandez, said the injunction on testing that was granted at Mr. Jindal’s request caused anxiety within the school system. “The evidence is clear that this state of the unknown has caused anxiety and other harm to the parents, teachers, administrators and...

Antarctica, the coldest place on Earth, teems with microscopic life. Tiny organisms dwell on the ice and live inside glaciers, and now, researchers confirm, a rich microbial ecosystem persists underneath the thick ice sheet, where no sunlight has been felt for millions of years. Nearly 4,000 species of microbes inhabit Lake Whillans, which lies beneath 2,625 feet (800 meters) of ice in West Antarctica, researchers report today (Aug. 20) in the journal Nature. These are the first organisms ever retrieved from a subglacial Antarctic lake. "We found not just that things are alive, but that there's an active ecosystem," said...