Free Republic

Health Care: There might not be a "death panel," as Sarah Palin described it, but federal bureaucrats will be making end-of-life decisions. That's why state-run medicine is a leading cause of death in Britain and Canada.A post on the former Alaska governor's Facebook page has caused a stir by discussing openly what many privately fear and something we have written about. End-of-life counseling and efforts to measure cost-effectiveness of treatment will combine in a perfect storm to ration care in a way that lets the government decide who lives and who dies. "The America I know and love is not...

On FR there was a magnificent graphic of freshly-dug open graves..."ObamaCare....a shovel-ready project"--I've looked for it and can't find it. I invite the creator to provide us with a poster-ready project to download and print for our March on Washington. Maybe access to a jpg that is high-res?

Palin Vs. Kerry (And MoveOn.org) By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:20 PM The political death of Sarah Palin has been greatly exaggerated. In a devastating op-ed in the Washington Post, Alaska's governor exposes the cap-and-tax fraud that has nothing to do with earth's temperature and everything to do with government control of the economy. She also exposes the stealth socialism ambitions of the Democratic left and once again points out the availability of abundant "shovel-ready" resources under America's soil, off America's shores and even in America's rocks. Judging from the reaction from Sen. Kerry and...

Politics: John Kerry, replying to an op-ed Sarah Palin wrote on cap-and-trade, suggests the Alaska governor "check the view from her front porch." What she sees from there, senator, is energy wealth going to waste.The political death of Sarah Palin has been greatly exaggerated. In a devastating op-ed in the Washington Post, Alaska's governor exposes the cap-and-tax fraud that has nothing to do with earth's temperature and everything to do with government control of the economy. She also exposes the stealth socialism ambitions of the Democratic left and once again points out the availability of abundant "shovel-ready" resources under America's...

Money for 'shovel ready' projects have strings attached WZZM 13 ONLINE 5/28/2009 6:32:48 AM GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - Shovels are hitting the ground across Michigan as hundreds of road projects get underway that will be paid for with federal stimulus dollars. But the money comes attached to some strings that some people call unnecessary. Michigan is getting about $873 million in stimulus money to pay for the road projects. A spokesperson for Governor Jennifer Granholm says it will create or sustain about 25 ,000 but there is a small catch. "Part of the requirement is they (the federal government) want...

WASHINGTON – Think you can do better than your federal boss? President Barack Obama wants to know how. Obama on Saturday announced a plan for federal workers to propose ways to improve their agencies' and departments' budgets. The president said employees' ideas would be key as his Cabinet officials cut millions from the federal budget and trim the deficit.

Here's a timely story. Polihale State Park on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, has been closed since December when flooding damaged a small bridge at the entrance to the park (for Wikipedia link on Polihale State Park see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polihale_State_Park). It would have taken $4 million and 2 years for the State to repair the bridge. But the State of Hawaii, like other states, is out of money. So when the bridge could be repaired and the park re-opened was anybody's guess. A bunch of the vendors and residents whose livelihoods depend on the tourist trade from the park got...

Spending: Stimulus money is being spent to build a bridge between two parts of Microsoft's corporate campus. Money's also available for suicide-prevention fencing on an Ohio bridge — just in time for taxpayers.The stimulus package is designed to fund already planned "shovel ready" projects that states and cities say they cannot afford to complete in this economy. The town of Redmond, Wash., had such a project on its wish list when it applied for stimulus funds to complete a bridge over a freeway dividing the town. Redmond Mayor John Machione said it would create jobs as well as "connecting our...

Why did the fried-chicken maker cross the road? To fill the potholes, of course. The folks at K[entucky] F[ried] C[hicken] recently cooked up an appetizing offer for cash-strapped cities: The restaurant chain will fix crater-ridden streets for free if they're allowed to brand repairs with a chalked-on message saying that the road has been "Re-Freshed by KFC." Company president Roger Eaton put the deal on the table last week in an open letter to America's mayors. KFC intends to select four towns to receive "a smooth drive that is fit for a colonel." KFC started the project in its hometown...

All of the Storm Drain Grates on my street have been replaced. There was nothing wrong with the old ones that I could tell. But they didn't have the admonition, "DUMP NO WASTE / DRIANS TO WATERWAY" in raised letters in the iron or whatever it is they use to make these things. I discovered this only today, because today was the first day this year that the weather permitted an outside cigar walk. They repaved the street sometime and it was probably during this project that the new grates were installed. Pictures below: (The new one is the one...

It seemed that Joe Biden had found the perfect example of a "shovel-ready" stimulus project. The 79-year-old bridge over the Conodoguinet Creek in North Middleton Township, Pennsylvania had rotted steel, crumbling concrete, and visible holes. So Biden went to Pennsylvania the week before the stimulus was signed into law to adopt the bridge as the poster-project for the bill.

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste." With that pithy motto, coined last November by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, President Obama has committed over 4 trillion dollars of America's wealth to further his goal of "remaking America" along the lines of socialist Europe. "Never waste a good crisis," echoed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week in Brussels. She told an audience at the European Parliament that "the United States has been negligent in living up to its responsibilities" to curb our use of energy, but at this "propitious time" of crisis, "we can actually begin...

By the choices we make we define ourselves. We reveal our biases and beliefs. And so, too, do our institutions. In writing the $789 billion stimulus bill, Congress revealed that, for all its “Buy American” blather, it does not truly put America first. It does not believe that 10 million jobless Americans, in the country their fathers built, should receive any preference in hiring 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens who broke into this country and owe her no loyalty, allegiance or love. Is this a slur on the patriotism of some of our congressmen? You betcha. What other...

Concord, MA - Massport has included two rehabilitation and maintenance projects at Hanscom Field on its “shovel-ready” list for possible federal stimulus funds. Massport submitted two separate requests totaling $9.725 million, both falling under the general heading of taxiway rehabilitation. Several state legislators raised objections to Massport’s bid for stimulus funds for the airport in a Feb. 23 letter to Gov. Deval Patrick’s office signed by Sens. Ken Donnelly, D-Arlington, and Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, and Reps. Cory Atkins, D-Concord, Thomas Conroy, D-Wayland, Jay Kaufman, D-Lexington, and Thomas Stanley, D-Waltham. In the letter, the legislators questioned the economic viability of the...

Seventy-five members of Congress asked House leaders on Tuesday to shut down a loophole allowing billions in economic stimulus funds to go to some 300,000 construction workers who are in the country illegally. “I believe that this figure may be low,” Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., tells Newsmax.

See! I keep telling you people Obama does not care about the economy; he cares about getting votes and enacting radical socialism. It's all falling into place! No jobs for Americans in the CRAPulus! Newsmax reports: An estimated 300,000 construction jobs paid for by the stimulus plan will go to illegal workers after leading Democrats removed a provision requiring verification of citizenship, a leading immigration expert tells Newsmax. The House version of the $787 billion stimulus bill required verification of the legal residency of anyone put to work by its spending. But that provision was removed from the bill before...

Carrying a wish list for more federal funding and a message about the economic clout of Southern California, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and 230 business and civic leaders will launch a lobbying assault today on Washington, D.C. Leading the Access Washington trip taken annually by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Villaraigosa plans to use his access to the Obama administration to push for a bigger chunk of the federal economic stimulus package. Villaraigosa has traveled to the nation's capital three other times in the last months to meet with federal officials about funding for Los Angeles. "The mayor is...

I know its cheesy but it only took a few minutes in Macromedia.