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Another Chicago area resident, Fay Hartog-Levin, a longtime Democratic activist and fund-raiser and an early career supporter of Barack Obama, was tapped Thursday to be ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Her husband, Daniel Levin, is the chairman of The Habitat Company and the founder of the East Bank Club. Valerie Jarrett, before joining the Obama White House as a senior advisor, was the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company. Levin's cousins are Michigan Democrats, Sen. Carl Levin and his brother, Rep. Sandy Levin. A Winnetka resident, Hartog-Levin is a senior consultant at the Res Publica...

NHS trusts have for the first time barred women from routinely having elective caesareans because they cost too much. The procedure, which costs twice as much as a natural birth, will be rationed in Greater Manchester so that it is only available to women with specific medical conditions. Some top obstetricians condemn the decision, arguing that, while it will curb the fashion for choosing caesareans to reduce the pain of childbirth, it will also penalise those who opt for them on the grounds that they are safer for the mother. Caesareans have been placed on the same lists for rationing...

Any time a bunch of soldiers break into a presidential palace, pick up the president and put him on a flight to exile, as happened in Honduras last Sunday, you have a "coup." But, unlike most coup targets in Latin America's tortuous republican history, Honduras's deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, bears the biggest responsibility for his overthrow. A member of the rancid oligarchy he now decries, Zelaya took office in 2006 as the leader of one of the two center-right parties that have dominated Honduran politics for decades. His general platform, his support for the Central American Free Trade Agreement with...

At virtually any given moment, the news-cycle-driven chattering classes of politics have in the background of their computer screens or the pockets of their briefcases a Big Thumbsucking Magazine Article on a political topic that they read during periods of calm. The Big Article du jour is Todd Purdum's massive profile of Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair.Most of the buzz about the piece deals with a variety of off-the-record snarks about Palin from McCain campaign staff. Indeed, conservative columnist Bill Kristol and McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt have engaged in a public exchange of insults over alleged leaks to Purdham....

With the deaths of a number of celebrities over the past couple of weeks — most notably Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson — there’s been a media feeding frenzy that hasn’t been seen since the untimely death of Princess Diana in 1997. Wes Pruden aptly calls it America’s Princess Di moment. Fawcett’s death at the age of 60 was sad but expected, as she was fighting a particularly nasty form of cancer. Jackson’s death at age 50 caught everyone by surprise because, despite his frail appearance over the past few years, he was gearing up for a new tour, set...

Bad news folks, everything you learned in school about American History is wrong, you will have to re-learn almost everything. At least according to today's Moonbat, Egyptian Writer Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk. According to Mabrouk, Columbus didn't accidentally discover America trying to find a trade route to India, no that what the infidels want you to think. The real story is that Columbus was on his way to China trying to recruit the Emperor help Columbus liberate Jerusalem. You know those puritans that came over in the Mayflower? They came to the new world in order to kill all the natives....

EIGHT operations in the Lothians are cancelled every week because of equipment failures, bed shortages and staffing levels, it has emerged. In the last year, 420 elective procedures were cancelled, a significant rise on previous years. The ERI suffered the most cancellations, with hundreds also being postponed at the Sick Kids, the Western General and St John's Hospital in Livingston. Critics said not enough bed space was provided in hospitals for times of need, although NHS chiefs pointed out that the cancellations equated to little over 0.5 per cent of all operations in the area – 65,000 operations in total...

Over 850,000 copies sold! #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller List for 12 out of 13 weeks!Buy it… read it… live it!“Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

The blogosphere is in an uproar today over the latest kerfuffle regarding the sometimes-sickeningly sweet relationship between U.S. president Barack Obama and the media, and most especially the Washington, D.C. media coterie that seems to surround and protect Mr. Obama in a blanket of exceedingly favorable new reportage. News reports breaking today, by Politico.com and others, are again highlighting this questionable relationship — which in this case seems to be that the Washington Post has been attempting to create “salons” in the home of Post publisher Katharine Weymouth in which lobbyists could pay from 25,000 to 250,000 dollars for what...

Did the Senate Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions (HELP) Committee figure out a way to provide most Americans with health insurance coverage for a lot less money than anyone thought possible? That's what a quick read of some news items seems to suggest. But it's not exactly true. The AP is reporting that the HELP committee has brought the CBO score of their revised health-care bill down to $600 billion, and that the new bill will cover 97% of America's legal population. The first version of the bill was scored at $1 trillion, and was projected to only cover about...

As Americans celebrate our independence, liberty, and national identity this July 4, the 'perfect storm' approaches that threatens the very fabric of our Republic, originating from none other than our own government and the disciples of Saul Alinsky. One of these disciples is none other than Barack Obama.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Air New Zealand has hit on a novel way to make sure even the most jaded flyers keep their eyes glued on its flight safety briefing. The national carrier's safety video for domestic services on its Boeing Co 737 planes show pilot and cabin crew dressed only in body paint.

Debby Smith, the woman who President Obama hugged during yesterday's town hall meeting and promised to help after she described her difficulties getting treatment for a tumor, "is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama's political operation within the Democratic National Committee" who "obtained her ticket through the White House." One can only imagine what the press would have to say if the Bush White House had done something as cynical. To sum up, during the session, Obama received questions from an advocate of a socialized, or single-payer health care, a representative of the liberal activist group Health Care for...

The Oscar-winning actress says she traveled to Spain as a teenager, fell in love with the country, and embraces the culture to the point that she visits at least once a year and makes sure her young children, Apple and Moses, also speak the language. "When I was 15, I went to a small town outside Talavera de la Reina and I had the most wonderful experience. It really changed my life," Paltrow said in fluent Spanish during a recent interview. Paltrow said Spain "became a second home." "It is so different from the United States. It seemed to have...

The MSM will try to ignore the Tea Party aspect, but it will be the dominant news story, so let's show these SOB's that the Tea Parties are not a passing fad.

Obama's Overseas Abortion Promotion Hurts Efforts to Help Poor in Peru Washington, DC -- When President Barack Obama ditched the Mexico City Policy and resumed sending taxpayer dollars to groups that perform and promote abortions overseas, he did more than just expand abortions. Obama's move has hurt groups who are helping poor people in other nations, such as Peru. See http://www.LifeNews.com/int1253.html

The big news of the morning is a new version of the Senate HELP Committee's health-care reform bill that seems to have everyone confused. The short version is this: CBO estimates that by 2019 the bill will cover 21 million people at a cost of $597 billion. But -- and this is important -- the HELP Committee's bill doesn't include the Medicaid expansion, because Medicaid is under the sole jurisdiction of the Finance Committee. But if Medicaid is expanded to 150 percent, it will cover an additional 20 million at a cost of about $1 trillion. Add in the savings...

Paul Krugman used the occasion of the latest jobs numbers to continue peddling his idea that one stimulus isn't enough. Nobel-Prize winning economist Paul Krugman said the nation is on course for a "prolonged jobless" economic recovery unless the Obama administration steps in with a second round of government stimulus money.

Today, Senator Cornyn asks the question of Judge Sotomayor to which an increasing number of Americans seem to be interested in knowing the answer… what with her recent slap-down by the Supreme Court and her past comments on the issue of race. What say you, Judge Sotomayor?

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The King of Pop had a fan in the White House.</p> <p>President Barack Obama described himself as a longtime follower of Michael Jackson, the legendary performer who died June 25 at age 50.</p> <p>"I grew up on his music — still have all his stuff on my iPod," Obama said in an AP interview Thursday, adding that Jackson "will go down in history as one of our greatest entertainers."</p>