Free Republic

With the President and Congress’s plan to pass comprehensive health care reform reaching increasingly high levels of unpopularity, and reconciliation becoming an impediment, the leadership of the Senate is rumored to be preparing a new secret plan to railroad the bill through the Senate in record time by using a seldom used parliamentary procedure.Their plan is to proceed to a House passed non-health care bill to provide a shell of legislation to give Obamacare a ride to the House then to the President’s desk.  Sound confusing? We lay out the steps below, but essentially the Senate would pass health care...

(CNSNews.com) - The “corrected” lesson plans the U.S. Department of Education is suggesting that schools around the country use to turn President Obama’s speech to students today into a “teachable moment” still call for teachers to read books about Obama and to post quotations from Obama in large print on classroom walls. The Department of Education created two “menus of classroom activities” for use with the president’s speech. One is designed to guide Pre-K through 6th grade teachers, and the other is designed to guide 7th through 12th grade teachers.

No More “vote before Reading” Bills! Please submit a simple and short Bill to mandate a “10 minute per page” lag-time, for the study of any Bill leaving “committee, for the Floor”. The “clock” should start AFTER the Government print shop has delivered a hard copy of the proposed bill to Your Office or Desk; and the News Media. If a Bill contains a “to be written later” paragraph, the Print Shop shall not release it. Approved “Floor Amendments” should get the same treatment. Add 10 minutes per page of Approved Amendments to Bills “pre-vote time”. A 2 page “Declaration...

A few weeks ago I suggested a few non-fiction books that were good reads. Here are some of my suggestions for fiction: Caleb Carr, The Alienist. Carr is trained in history, and this long, but involved, mystery involves a 19th century serial killer in which the detective is just beginning to use some of the forensic tools available to us today. In the process, he encounters Teddy Roosevelt, Jacob Riis, and J. P. Morgan among others. Each has more than a cameo. The Civil War trilogy by Newt Gingrich and Bill Fortschen, Gettysburg, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat....

I was talking to a friend the other day who teaches at an elementary school and has a student whom I shall name Shakir. Shakir is ten, and he's barely literate. My friend's class is not a large one; she has five to eight students. She also has a teaching assistant, and between them, the kids receive a lot of personal, one-to-one attention. Nevertheless, Shakir still can't read. The why of this phenomenon is quite important; you see, there are lots of Shakirs in the black community. For he is one of many kids flunking his way through the educational system,...

APRIL 23--The parents of a 21-year-old soldier killed in Iraq are suing an online retailer for including their son's name on antiwar t-shirts that list the names of thousands of military personnel killed in the war. In a $10 million federal lawsuit, Michael and Robin Read allege that the manufacturer of the shirts is using their son Brandon's name in a commercial venture without their permission. The Reads's complaint, a copy of which you'll find below, was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Greeneville, Tennessee; it names Dan Frazier and his firm Lifeweaver, LLC as defendants. While the lawsuit...

A month ago, when I got an e-mail from a Lubbock mom who told me her 16-month-old baby could read, I didn't really take it seriously - especially when she told me it was her first baby.  But after a few weeks and a few more e-mails, I decided to meet her and see for myself.Elizabeth Barrett is now 17 months old. She looks and acts like most babies her age, but  her mom Katy says, "She can read sentences. She can read more words than we can count."  So we watched as Elizabeth pulled out her favorite book,...

FORT HUACHUCA — There is one thing Command Sgt. Maj. Gerry Wykoff is thankful for, and that is Dr. Seuss never wrote an Army Field Manual. As it is, his children’s books are full of tongue twisters, as the senior noncommissioned officer for the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca found out Monday when he read Seuss’ “The Sleep Book,” to fourth-grade students of Janet Josa’s class at General Myer Elementary School. For many young school students, the Dr. Seuss books are today’s “See Spot Run” that older generations remember from their days in the lower grades of elementary education. Nationwide,...

Electrodes were planted in the part of the brain which controls speech Scientists say they may be on the brink of translating into words the thoughts of a man who can no longer speak, after a pioneering experiment. Electrodes have been implanted in the brain of Eric Ramsay, who has been "locked in" - conscious but paralysed - since a car crash eight years ago. These have been recording pulses in areas of the brain involved in speech. Now, New Scientist magazine reports, they are to use the signals he generates to drive speech software. Although the data is...

There it sits on your night stand, that book you've meant to read for who knows how long but haven't yet cracked open. Tonight, as you feel its stare from beneath that teetering pile of magazines, know one thing — you are not alone. One in four adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and seniors were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices. The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can...

For the past two decades, Barack Obama has been a faithful member of the congregation at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Trinity is no run-of-the-mill black church. It's social activism and political awareness on pure, natural holy water. Trinity's progressive pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, preaches the black theology of liberation. And he practices what he preaches. Back when apartheid was the law of the land in South Africa, when Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner and when American corporations, institutions and the U.S. government all gave their blessings to those evil doings, the dashiki-wearing minister planted a ''Free...

This is an excellent, must read article. It is fairly long so I just posted the link. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/452layhd.asp?pg=2

Don’t bother standing up or clapping, any of you. I already know who won the election, and I know how you feel. I come before you tonight not to make amends, not to make it good, curry any favor or find any middle ground. I am, more or less, a lame duck. You’ve had your 100 hours of party time. I know. I won’t get any legislation passed without some major bottom-kissing. Maybe something on illegal aliens. That health insurance thing I’ll be talking about later tonight is pretty much for show. I know it isn’t going anywhere. A proposal...

Sunday morning vanity for a buddy. One of his new careproviders is fufilling his interest in reading books out loud to him. He does not care for books on tape as he enjoys the interaction of reading with someone. He is a quadroplegic 27yrs now and very active in all aspects of life, case you are wondering. So our little town started a community reading circle and he can check books out of the Library but would rather buy the book and keep it. So word is getting out. But he needs Titles/Authors as people want to give him books....

II MEF CG, wife participate in Read Across AmericaSubmitted by: II Marine Expeditionary ForceStory Identification #: 200632151833Story by Sgt. Tracee L. Jackson MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.-- (March 2, 2006) -- The commanding general of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, Lt. Gen. James F. Amos, and his wife, Bonnie, participated in the Read Across America program at Jefferson Primary School here March 2. According to Jeanette Martinez, a coordinator for the event, the program is designed to show the importance of reading to school-aged children. Guest readers, including senators, commanders, doctors, and other high-profile professionals have visited all...

FINALLY, LAURA HAS A WAY TO GET TO THE STUDIO ON TIME! Laura's Iraq Journal Day 1: Feb. 5th, 2006First let me repeat what I already knew--the troops serving over here are a stellar, inspiring group. I have been thoroughly impressed from the moment of our first contact with the 4th Infantry Division personnel who helped faciitate our trip into Iraq. In the middle of the night we were whisked off to an undisclosed location, and a few hours later flown to Baghdad by a great Air Force crew out of Alaska and a trusty old C-130. A number of...

Newsvine.com, a new type of news site created by four former Disney/ABCNEWs.com employees, is now up and running in beta. CyberJournalist.net has been invited to join the beta and is impressed with what it's seen so far. The site is a slick combination of some of the trendiest news-related tools online now, incorporating news aggregation, social networking, citizen journalism, blogging, user ratings and online discussions. Think of it as one-part Slashdot, one-part del.icio.us and one-part Google News, with a few other neat features thrown in. The site is built around four general actions: reading, discussing, writing and seeding the news....

Newsvine.com, a new type of news site created by four former Disney/ABCNEWs.com employees, is now up and running in beta. CyberJournalist.net has been invited to join the beta and is impressed with what it's seen so far. The site is a slick combination of some of the trendiest news-related tools online now, incorporating news aggregation, social networking, citizen journalism, blogging, user ratings and online discussions. Think of it as one-part Slashdot, one-part del.icio.us and one-part Google News, with a few other neat features thrown in. The site is built around four general actions: reading, discussing, writing and seeding the news....

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Ca. (Dec. 14, 2005) -- Six Marines, including Maj. Gen. Michael R. Lehnert, Marine Corps Installation West commanding general, volunteered several hours of their time to make a lasting impression on local children. These Marines didn’t perform duties related to their jobs in the Corps, however, they read storybooks to elementary students at Bonsall West Elementary School for the Adopt A School Program Nov. 15. The Marines from Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Base, made a pact to work closely with the students and participate in everything from tutoring in subjects like math and...

Winning by Jack Welch, Suzy Welch If you judge books by their covers, Jack Welch's Winning certainly grabs your attention. Testimonials on the back come from none other than Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rudy Giuliani, and Tom Brokaw, and other praise comes from Fortune, Business Week, and Financial Times. As the legendary retired CEO