Free Republic

President Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia supporter did just that Wednesday. Fighting back tears, Debby Smith, 53, told Obama of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job. The president hugged her--she's a volunteer for his political operation--and called her "exhibit A" in an unsustainable system that is too expensive and complex for millions of Americans. ... Smith, of Appalachia, Va., is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama's political operation within the Democratic National Committee. She obtained her ticket through...

A new Harvard study has calculated the cost of Obama's crazy Cap and Trade scheme - 2.5 MILLION jobs/year. What a bargain...

Our First Amazon at a soup kitchen. Notice something funny? Enjoy!

NEW ORLEANS — An international committee of experts has endorsed the use of the hemoglobin A1c assay to diagnose diabetes, at a level of 6.5% or above. The 21-member international committee, chaired by Dr. David M. Nathan, was appointed by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Their consensus report—presented in a symposium at the annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association and published simultaneously online in Diabetes Care—has not yet been officially endorsed by the three organizations. “This is the first major departure from the...

Politicians Are What’s Wrong With Politics So, Mark Sanford had an affair. Big deal. Who really cares? He screwed up his own life. He screwed over his wife and kids. It happens everyday. His family will deal with it. He will pay a personal price, either by losing his family, the mistress he claims to be in love with, or most likely both. The media and the Muckadoos on the Internet think that this is once again an example of “conservative hypocrisy.” I’ve seen no less than ten news segments dedicated to discussing whether or not the GOP needs to...

Reuters is reporting that the enormous stimulus package that was supposed to heal the economy at the minor cost of our children's financial future - always a great gamble... isn't really working. Imagine that.

ORLANDO — Fewer than half of childhood cancer survivors who are deemed to be at high risk of secondary breast, colon, and skin malignancies follow cancer-screening and surveillance recommendations as adults, according to a new analysis of the large, longitudinal Childhood Cancer Survivors Study. High-risk survivors were the least compliant with colonoscopy recommendations: Only 11.5% of 794 survivors who were considered vulnerable for colorectal cancer had a colonoscopy during the 5 years before they were surveyed, Dr. Paul Nathan reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Skin cancer is the most common radiation-associated second malignancy...

Recently President Obama brought in a new general to lead our troops in Afghanistan. Along with the general comes new non-military "solutions". "Solutions" which put our troops at more risk.

There is much in the House cap-and-trade energy bill that just passed that I absolutely hate. It is too weak in key areas and way too complicated in others. A simple, straightforward carbon tax would have made much more sense than this Rube Goldberg contraption. It is pathetic that we couldn’t do better. It is appalling that so much had to be given away to polluters. It stinks. It’s a mess. I detest it. Now let’s get it passed in the Senate and make it law. Why? Because, for all its flaws, this bill is the first comprehensive attempt by...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A small software firm in the tony enclave of Santa Barbara may have helped personal computer makers fend off demands by the Chinese government for mandatory Web-filtering software on all PCs sold in China.When the Chinese government delayed the requirement for Green Dam software, it did not give a new timetable on when the software had to be installed. No reasons were given, but some speculate that fear of being party to political censorship wasn't the only reason. See full story. Last month, researchers at the University of Michigan found two big problems with Green Dam,...

This past Saturday, an entire apartment building in Shanghai collapsed. To be fair, the building was under construction and thus unoccupied, but it's still a minor miracle that there was only one fatality. Sounds like there was a problem with some nearby flood prevention walls at the Dianpu River, but there's no hard evidence as to why this huge building simply fell over. Anyway, here are some sweet pictures of the architectural carnage.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Pressure is mounting to routinely screen all children for autism early because evidence increasingly demonstrates that intervention before age 3 years results in far better outcomes, Dr. Ann Reynolds said at the annual conference of the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians. “It's so important to get those services going. Children with autism who begin treatment before age 3 have a much better chance of having functional language,” explained Dr. Reynolds, a pediatrician at the University of Colorado and director of the child development unit at the Children's Hospital, Denver. American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines recommend an autism-specific...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - A federal judge has struck down the Bush administration's change to a rule designed to protect the northern spotted owl from logging in national forests. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled from Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service failed to take a hard look at the environmental impacts of changing the rule to make it easier to cut down forest habitat of species such as the spotted owl and salmon on 193 million acres of national forests. "I am hopeful that this is the last nail in the coffin to (President George W.)...

Controversial Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma says he hates pop legend Michael Jackson for dying and making him realise that he was only a human being. "I hate Michael Jackson. I hate him for dying and making me realise that he is just a human being. I hate that he too has to breathe to live. I hate that he too has a heart which can stop like anybody else's," Varma posted on his new blog www.rgvzoomin.com. Check out the Michael Jackson tribute page "I truly truly hate Michael Jackson for becoming a grim reality from a fantastic fantasy," he...

WASHINGTON -- The Minnesota Supreme Court has ended months of vote fraud and other assorted acts of skulduggery to pronounce Al Franken winner of the state's 2008 senatorial race over Republican Norm Coleman. The process was unseemly, and it is conceivable that the court's justices merely acted out of civic pride. They did not want Minnesota's U.S. Senate races to attain the sort of notoriety attached to aldermanic elections in Chicago or presidential elections in Iran. Franken is an admitted clown. As such, he will be the only admitted clown in the United States Senate, though he will be seated...

North Korea is "highly likely" to fire short-range missiles off its east coast after issuing a fresh warning to shipping to stay clear of some areas, according to a South Korean newspaper. "It is highly likely that the North will launch missiles" from bases in the eastern provinces of Kangwon and South Hamkyong, the JoongAng Ilbo quoted an intelligence source as saying. The communist state has responded defiantly to UN condemnation of its long-range rocket launch in April and of its May nuclear test, vowing to bolster its defences.

Hon. James David Manning, PhD continues speaking about the Patrick Henry style revolution. He also speaks about white people rioting and Larry Sinclair.

We are at a defining moment for this nation. If we act now, then we can rebuild our economy in a way that makes it strong, competitive, sustainable and prosperous once more. We can lead this century the same way that we led the last century. But if we don't act, if we let this moment pass, we could see this economy just sputter along for decades -- a slow, steady decline in which the chances for our children and our grandchildren are fewer than the opportunities that were given to us. And that's contrary to the history of America....

SAN FRANCISCO — A proposal by the mayor to add a per-pack fee to cigarettes sold in San Francisco was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee. The ordinance, which is expected to receive full board approval, would boost the cost of a pack by 33 cents starting Oct. 1. Newsom said the fee will help The City’s budget and offset the cost incurred to clean up butts.

Does the Honduran government have the right to enforce its own Constitution? Isn't it a sovereign nation? Webster's defines ‘sovereignty' as "supreme power, especially over a body politic; freedom from external control...especially, an autonomous state." Therefore, a simple definition of national sovereignty is the right of a legitimate nation-state to enforce its own laws and determine its own fate without influence, pressure or threat of force from an outside source. Does Honduras have exclusive jurisdiction to enforce its Constitution, or does the rest of the world have a legitimate say in how Honduras self-governs? In order to answer this question...