Free Republic

Could the swine flu usher in martial law? An emergency physician from Fort Hood, Texas, weighs in on that possibility. Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering Senate Bill 2028, a pandemic response bill that will give public health officials and law enforcement complete control over citizens of the Commonwealth. Under the bill, should a pandemic be declared, the aforementioned officials will have authority to quarantine and forcibly immunize citizens. Any citizens resisting will face stiff fines and up to 30 days in prison. The bill also gives authorities the right to seize private property and supplies and redistribute them as they...

Joseph P. Kennedy II said today he will not make a bid for the senate seat held by his late uncle Edward M. Kennedy, in a bombshell announcement expected to draw candidates-in-waiting out from the wings. “Given all that my uncle accomplished, it was only natural to consider getting back involved in public office, and I appreciate all the calls of support and friendship that have poured in,” Kennedy said in a statement posted on the web site of Citizens Energy, of which he is the founder. “My father called politics an honorable profession, and I have profound respect for...

BOSTON -- A state biologist and a team of Cape Cod fishermen became the first group to successfully tag a great white shark in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, placing tracking devices on two sharks off the coast of Chatham, according to the Department of Marine Fisheries. Biologists from the Massachusetts Shark Research Program have been closely monitoring the waters near Monomy Island to locate and identify sharks after five were spotted in the waters off Cape Cod on Thursday. At about 10 a.m. Saturday, Skomal and the crew of the fishing vessel Ezduzit identified a great white off the...

The pandemic emergency bill S2028 makes an exception for one specific disease, HIV/AIDS, from isolation and quarantine strategies. See lines 456-458: In this section [re: isolation and quarantine], “disease or condition dangerous to the public health” does not include acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While it doesn’t make sense to forcibly isolate or quarantine HIV/AIDS carriers, why not employ some of the other strategies enumerated in this bill to contain disease, such as: - mandatory testing for the disease (lines 423-424). - entry into premises (without warrant), where it’s suspected the disease is being...

You see it all the time, Democrats in any particular state or county government proposing to raise sales taxes to raise “much needed” revenues -- I say “much needed” because spending cuts are never considered an option for what ails a government budget. But these money-hungry Democrats never once consider the harm they are doing to the businesses in their own jurisdictions especially when surrounding states (or counties) happen to have lower sales taxes than the new, higher level being introduced by Democrat tax hikers. These tax-mongering Democrats simply assume that raising the taxes will raise the revenues and that...

3 TV commericals which aired in 1976.

A "pandemic response bill" currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance. If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.

A pandemic and disaster preparation bill (S. 2028) passed unanimously by the Massachusetts Senate earlier this year is receiving wide-spread criticism as citizens mobilize to oppose its passage in the commonwealth’s House of Representatives. “Under this bill, Massachusetts becomes a medical police state. There is no debating it,” wrote Natural News editor Michael Adams in an August 28 article entitled "Wake Up, America: Forced vaccinations, quarantine camps, health care interrogations and mandatory 'decontaminations,'" where he suggested America was delving into medical fascism. “The citizens of Massachusetts will have no rights, period. The Constitution is ancient history. You are now the...

Thousands of people have signed an online petition hosted by the British Government to remove the late Ted Kennedy's knighthood. The petition's creator Stephen Clements says he started the petition because he claims that Kennedy supported the IRA. "Ted Kennedy throughout the 70's and 80's actively supported groups whose sole purpose was to financially support IRA families," he said. "This support enabled the IRA to continue its muder (sic) campaign against UK citizens for a longer period than would otherwise have happened and contributed to the number of deaths on both sides. "It is highly unlikely that the US Government...

How can it be appropriate to change the legal mechanism for filling a vacancy after that vacancy has occurred?

Michelle Obama, exhausted from her Martha's Vineyard vacation, can't keep her eyes open during the Homily at the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy. Don't give her too much grief, though. It's really not her fault. Reverend Mark Hession isn't half the public speaker that Reverend Jeremiah Wright was. VIDEO

Kennedy thought government could solve all of our problems By Sheldon Richman Last update: August 30, 2009 - 11:17 AM Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is gone. No one in the last 40 years stood as a larger symbol of “liberalism,” the view that government is the answer for everything. A great deal has been said in recent days about his compassion and generosity. But bear in mind that in public life, his compassion consisted in spending other people's money and authorizing government bureaucracies to interfere with the social cooperation that takes place whenever life, liberty, and property are respected. We...

Massachusetts Cuts Back Immigrants’ Health Care By ABBY GOODNOUGH Published: August 31, 2009 BOSTON — State-subsidized health insurance for 31,000 legal immigrants here will no longer cover dental, hospice or skilled-nursing care under a scaled-back plan that Gov. Deval Patrick announced Monday. Mr. Patrick said his administration had struggled to find a solution “that preserves the promise of health care reform” after the state legislature cut most of the $130 million it had previously allotted immigrants, to help close a budget deficit. Although their health benefits will be sharply curtailed in some cases, Mr. Patrick portrayed the new program as...

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the` Massachusetts State Senate. "I'm Tired" by Robert A. Hall` I'll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce,` and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given...

More grim news for Obama from the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll. The Net Approval (strongly approve minus strongly disapprove) index is minus 11. Overall, only 46% of the likely voters polled strongly or somewhat approve of Obama. AT political director Richard Baehr calls the chart below a "shockingly fast decline. It suggests this guy got elected because the stars were aligned, that plus 3/4 of a billion dollars and billions in free positive media coverage." News editor Ed Lasky passes along this article by Jim McTague of Barrons, noting the damage that liberal Massachusetts is about the inflict on...

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) says he will sign legislation making the senate seat held by the late Senator Kennedy “hereditary.” “Look, the seat has been held by one Kennedy or another, come Hell or high water, for over 50 years,” Patrick observed. “The people of this state obviously want a Kennedy, need a Kennedy in this position. Making the seat hereditary is the simplest way of guaranteeing this.” Under the draft legislation, the Massachusetts senate seat would pass to his son Patrick Kennedy. Patrick Kennedy is currently a Democratic member of congress from the State of Rhode Island. The...

As Edward Kennedy was mourned and laid to rest over the weekend, talk about what will happen to his open Senate seat grew louder. On Friday, there were reports that the Massachusetts legislature would follow Kennedy’s final wish and change the five-year-old Senate succession law. Such a change would permit Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint an interim senator until the special election is held no earlier than 145 days after Kennedy’s death and no more than 160 days. (That means in January). This would be the second Democratic opportunistic change to the law. The last time – when Democratic...

IN 2004, FEARING that Republican Gov. Mitt Romney would appoint a fellow Republican to replace Sen. John F. Kerry should he become president, the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts legislature changed the law, mandating a special election. Now, fearing that the push for health-care reform could be weakened by the absence of a 60th Democratic senator, that same legislature wants to change the law again, allowing the governor -- now a Democrat -- to make a quick appointment. With all due respect to the wishes of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, this isn't how lawmaking is supposed to work. It smacks of political expediency...

President Barack Obama resembles the used car dealer in the CARFAX commercial. You've probably seen the commercial. A sleazy used car dealer is attempting to push a customer into buying an apparent clunker. The customer says he won't buy without seeing the CARFAX which would provide a history of the car so the customer would know what he was getting. Obama has been pressuring Congress to adopt some type of health care related program without the lengthy debate that should precede any major change in health care. Obama's attempt to force the issue implied a major flaw with the proposal,...

Fear that the coming flu season will be deadly has inspired several extreme measures aimed at controlling the spread of the virus. The senate of Massachusetts has passed the so-called “Pandemic Response Bill.” Under the bill’s provisions, persons suspected of being infected may be interrogated and, if necessary, quarantined by state authorities “as they deem most conducive to protecting the collective health of the state’s inhabitants.” The Massachusetts bill would also establish mandatory vaccinations and would impose fines of $1,000 per day and/or possible imprisonment for anyone who refuses to submit or to follow orders given by state-licensed law enforcement...

A Scituate man reeled in a 624-pound mako shark Thursday, possibly breaking the record for the biggest male mako ever caught, a biologist said. “I’ve caught a million sharks before, but never anything this feisty,” said Taylor Sears, 20, a Massachusetts Maritime Academy junior who said he fishes every day of the summer. Greg Skomal, a shark specialist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the 10-foot fish is the largest male mako shark ever to be recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, and appears to be the largest male ever caught. “We didn’t think they got this big, basically,”...

House Financial Services Chairman Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat, said he expects former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul's legislation to audit the Fed to pass out of his committee in October as part of a larger regulatory package.

BOSTON -- A Democratic push to appoint a successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy is sparking a political tempest in Massachusetts, infuriating Republicans and dividing Democrats who only five years ago passed a law requiring that voters decide on Senate vacancies. On a day when members of both parties paid their respects to Mr. Kennedy, a Democratic icon who died this week of brain cancer, Republicans accused Democrats of hypocrisy. In 2004, the state's Democrat-controlled legislature changed the law to prevent the governor from appointing an interim successor after a U.S. Senate seat becomes vacant. Instead, the new law...

Of all the politicians I've encountered in the course of doing my job, there have been some that I've admired and some that I've loathed. But there's only one politician I've ever pitied, and that's Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy. I met Kennedy three summers ago when I was reporting a profile of Newt Gingrich and both politicians were giving speeches to a business conference in Newport, Rhode Island. Although I was there to hear Gingrich's talk, it was Kennedy's that made the bigger impression, if only because it was so bad. Kennedy was speaking about his legislative passion—the issue...

As the Kennedy motorcade wended its way through the throngs in Boston, past the noteworthy landmarks of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s own memories to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum this afternoon, the political chatter about his replacement continued to inch along with a little momentum of its own. Abby Goodnough, The Times’s Boston bureau chief, noted in an article published today that Gov. Deval Patrick spoke with the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, on Wednesday. The topic at hand is how and when to fill the seat long held by the state’s senior senator. On Wednesday, the...

There is no shortage of politicians hoping to take Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, but there’s no real candidate to fill Kennedy’s role as leader of the Senate liberals. A handful of well-known and ambitious progressives in the upper chamber are eager to carry on Kennedy’s legacy — including his fellow Massachusetts native John Kerry, his best friend Chris Dodd of Connecticut, plus Tom Harkin of Iowa, Dick Durbin of lllinois and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. But none possesses the alchemical mixture of celebrity, seniority, personal charm, legislative savvy and ideological zeal that made Kennedy the most effective liberal in a...

No Senator Romney Fehrnstrom squelches speculation: Responding to speculation that Romney may be interested in the seat — which he challenged Kennedy for in 1994 — Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney’s political action committee, told POLITICO that the former one-term governor has no interest in campaigning to replace Kennedy. “Gov. Romney’s focus right now is on helping other Republicans run for office, and that is how he will be spending his time,” he said. Romney’s name had been floated in state political circles and among conservative bloggers as a viable GOP candidate, but Fehrnstrom said Romney absolutely will not...

Former Massachusetts GOP Gov. Mitt Romney will not seek the Senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy’s death, a Romney spokesman said Thursday. Responding to speculation that Romney may be interested in the seat — which he challenged Kennedy for in 1994 — Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney’s political action committee, told POLITICO that the former one-term governor has no interest in campaigning to replace Kennedy.

1)Haiku guy was correct (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2325508/posts), one of us (mass freepers, 912 ers, conservative types) needs to do what it takes to run for Kennedy's empty seat. No chance of winning, but that person would have standing to challenge any law passed to circumvent a special election. There are extenuating circumstances that dictate my inability to take such action right now; if push came to shove, I may be able to convince some one to run.2) Pandemic legislation passed senate 36-0. The Mass LPA had lobbied and been promised this item was tabled for the foreseeable future. Another promise broken! This...

Massachusetts lawmakers are reportedly warming up to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s plea that Gov. Deval Patrick be able to appoint a quick successor to finish out Kennedy's term. Gov. Patrick and other statehouse leaders said Wednesday that it would be a shame to have to wait up to five months to conduct a special election -- which would leave the state with only one vote in the Senate as the country debates critical health care reform. Kennedy had written a letter to the governor and lawmakers before his death requesting that they overturn a 2004 law that requires the...

I never voted for Ted Kennedy, not once, and neither did maybe a quarter to one-third of the Massachusetts electorate, although you’d never know that from the echo chamber of the mainstream media since his death in Hyannisport late Tuesday night. While offering condolences to the Kennedy family at this sad moment, it is important to note that his life was not as simple, nor heroic, as is now being portrayed. On the cable channels yesterday, his fellow Senate graybeards, of both parties, were lamenting the passing of what was invariably described as Ted Kennedy’s “collegial” Senate - where voices...

Just before his death Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) asked the Massachusetts governor and lawmakers to change the law back to what it once was so that an interim replacement could be appointed as a replacement for his seat in the Senate if he was unable to continue serving. The law was changed in 2004. At that time, Massachusetts had a Republican governor, Mitt Romney, who would have had the right appoint a replacement to serve an interim appointment when a vacancy occurred.

A new law just passed in Massachusetts imposes fines of up to $1000 per day and up to a 30 day jail sentence for not obeying authorities during a public health emergency. So if you are instructed to take the swine flu vaccine in Massachusetts and you refuse, you could be facing fines that will bankrupt you and a prison sentence on top of that. The YouTube video below is of a news report about this disturbing new law. In particular, pay attention at the 1:40 mark when the anchor and reporter discuss the new penalties for not obeying the...

Ted Kennedy has died after a long battle against brain cancer. While this site - and many Americans - will not mourn this loss, we still extend our condolences to Kennedy's family. Losing a brother, uncle, cousin or friend is never easy and we pray that Kennedy's family will find comfort in their time of sorrow. With that being said, Kennedy's death drops from the scene one of the more horrific and needlessly glorified politicians of the past forty years. If ANY of his brothers would have outlived him, Ted's political career would have been moribund at best. However, after...

After Sen. Edward Kennedy made the request in a poignant letter last week sent to Gov. Deval Patrick and the state's Senate president, Therese Murray, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, only three senators have publicly signaled support.

A ruling by the state’s highest court today means that tax-free New Hampshire will remain tax free – even for Massachusetts residents. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court found that the state Department of Revenue had no right to collect a “use” tax – in lieu of a direct sales tax – on purchases of tires made at a New Hampshire store, but by people whose cars were registered in Massachusetts. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall said, “There is no Massachusetts statutory presumption of use in the Commonwealth, where personal property is sold to a...

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) has asked the state legislature to change the law so he can name his own replacement in the US Senate. A spokesman for the ailing senator said “the Senator is concerned that he may not live long enough to cast his vote for the current health care bill and ensure that America is on the path to realizing his life long dream for a single-payer national health system.” Kennedy has couched his request as a cost-saving measure. In a letter to the Massachusetts state legislature the Senator wrote, “I have held this seat for four decades....

Massachusetts has the most expensive family health insurance premiums in the country, according to a new analysis that highlights the state’s challenge in trying to rein in medical costs after passage of a landmark 2006 law that mandated coverage for nearly everyone. The report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care foundation, showed that the average family premium for plans offered by employers in Massachusetts was $13,788 in 2008, 40 percent higher than in 2003. Over the same period, premiums nationwide rose an average of 33 percent.

Politics: Should the election law in Massachusetts be changed to keep Ted Kennedy's seat filled and get ObamaCare passed? As in Minnesota and Illinois, the voters might lose again.Recognizing his own mortality and waging a valiant battle against brain cancer, Kennedy has written a letter to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, state Senate President Theresa Murray and state House Speaker Robert DeLeo asking them to change the law so his seat might be filled immediately until a special election could be held. His letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Boston Globe, does not specially mention his illness or...

I have no ill will toward Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. I respect and admire his long service, but is it too indelicate to ask if Kennedy is so concerned about continuity of representation in the U.S. Senate, why hasn’t he resigned to allow an orderly election to take place? The law defines a vacancy as occurring upon the filing of a letter of resignation, including a resignation not effective until a future date. And why, on this important matter of principle, didn’t he stand with Mitt Romney in 2004 when Democrats changed the law to deny the Republican governor the...

Back when I was active in Massachusetts politics, one of my roles was as a coordinator working for Romney when he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate. My best friend at the time was an Irish-American, retired airline pilot who loved boating as much as I did, and who did boating stuff with me almost every day (as a college professor, I had summers off). One time I laid out the case for Romney over Kennedy to him, and he sadly agreed, but then said that he had to vote for Kennedy because “we owed it to him”. In...

Back in 2004 John Kerry, the Junior Senator from Massachusetts, was the Presidential candidate for the Democratic party. If he were to be elected, Massachusetts law dictates that the governor would appoint someone to fill out the rest of Kerry's term. Back then the Governor was a Republican, Mitt Romney, who would have certainly filled the seat with a Republican. Senator Ted Kennedy did not want that to happen so he urged the state legislature to change the law. The new law leaves the seat vacant empty until a special election is held. But Senator Kennedy, who is losing his...

Okay, at 19% it is technically still double digits, but given that the reviled, detested, and utterly evil George W. Bush had an all-time low approval rating of 20%, which was also the lowest figure for any president in history, Patrick is really plumbing the depths.

WASHINGTON - Massachusetts almost certainly will lose one of its 10 congressional districts after next year’s census, the result of a long-term population shift that is giving Southern and Western states more political power in Washington at the expense of the Northeast, say specialists who have been poring over data in advance of the 2010 count. link:http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/08/14/population_shift_likely_to_cost_mass_seat_in_us_house/

Massachusetts health authorities took the unprecedented step yesterday of deputizing dentists, paramedics, and pharmacists to help administer vaccines against both the seasonal flu and the novel swine strain expected to make a return visit in the fall. In another emergency measure, regulators directed hospitals and clinics to provide vaccine to all their workers and some volunteers, a move designed to keep the medical workforce robust and prevent doctors and nurses from making their patients sick. The actions illustrated the intensifying sense of urgency as health authorities, hospital administrators, and clinic executives across the nation confront the prospect of providing hundreds...

The Tea Parties have had quite an impact at the health care town hall meetings in the last week. One expects Tea Party dominance at town hall meetings in Texas. One can even understand Tea Party dominance at town hall meetings in Pennsylvania. What one does not expect is for tea party protests to dominate in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. Yesterday in Worcester, a town hall meeting was held by left-wing Reps. James McGovern (D-MA) and Richard Neal (D-MA). The State-Run Worcester Telegraph, while trying to paint the Tea Party goers as an unruly mob (look at the photo...

Hi folks, I am thinking of taking a job in Massachusetts, and I was wondering if any FReepers had any recommendations on where to live. The company is located in Waltham, and I've always wanted to live on the East Coast. I would be leaving sunny Southern California. I am shocked to see that the land of Kennedy and Kerry has much lower tax rates (income and sales) than the land of fruit and nuts. We are a family of five (no pets) and it seems like the biggest hurdle I have is finding a nice enough place to live...

"Will Commonwealth care cost taxpayers more? No!" So wrote Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in November 2004, the economy then still in full bloom. "Neither the state nor the taxpayers can afford to pay more."

Detectives and worried relatives are searching desperately for a cold-hearted killer who murdered an 8-months-pregnant Massachusetts mom, cut her uterus open and took her nearly full-term baby girl. The decomposing body of 23-year-old Darlene Haynes was found wrapped in a blanket and dumped in a closet Monday in her apartment in Worcester.

IMAGINE the sort of car you’d drive if government regulations made it illegal to sell any automobile that didn’t feature 380-horsepower direct-injection V6 engines, computer-controlled electric power steering, eight-speed automatic transmission, four-wheel-drive, automatic climate control, “smart key’’ technology, touch-screen navigation, backup cameras, LED headlights, acoustic glass, surround-sound stereo, and leather seat stitching. If those were the minimum requirements every car had to meet before it could be sold, would you commute to and from work every day in a Lexus LS 460 or some other luxury vehicle? Well, you might, if the steep price wasn’t an obstacle. But it’s more...