Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- Senators are cooling to a proposal that would impose a first-ever tax on employer-provided health insurance and are giving renewed attention to taxes on the wealthy to pay for a sweeping health-care overhaul. Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) and others involved in talks on a health bill said Tuesday that the idea of taxing health benefits is unpopular with voters, though they stressed that it hasn't been completely swept off the bargaining table. Senate negotiators are considering a wider range of ways to pay for expanding health coverage, including President Barack Obama's proposal to limit tax deductions for...

Herodotus tells us of the Scythians, who ravaged the Middle East and Europe. The Romans later defeated Sarmatians on the plains of Pannonia. Even further back in history we know of the Indo-Aryan Mittani in Syria, while there are hints of a relationship between nomadic societies on the steppe of Eurasia and later settled populations in Eastern Europe, Iran & India. Because of the lack of literacy in most of the world before 500 B.C. we must rely on archaeology to connect the vaguest of these dots... Standard physical anthropological methods did yield results which suggested that populations of European...

Note: The following text is a quote: LAHORE: Twenty-five explosive-laden vehicles have reportedly entered various major cities of the country, as the intelligence services launched search operations across all four provinces, a private TV channel reported on Monday. According to the channel, the vehicles could target sensitive government installments and other important buildings. The channel cited a notification issued by the Interior Ministry stating that suicide bombers along with the vehicles had entered Peshawar, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Quetta and Karachi. The ministry ordered provincial authorities to immediately conduct search operations and impound the vehicles before any terrorist incident took place....

Study after study has shown FOX viewers are more engaged, more intelligent than the average television viewer. You could say we're to the right on the bell curve. So here's a trial balloon for a new phrase: "Are You Smart Enough To Watch FOX?"

Tear gas was still wafting through the streets of Tehran when, at a June 23 White House press conference, The Huffington Post's Nico Pitney conveyed an Iranian's question to President Obama: "Under which conditions would you accept the election of [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad? And if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn't that a betrayal of what the demonstrators there are working towards?" Obama avoided a direct answer, saying only that the Iranian government should "recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy and prosperity," and expressing hope that...

Let other capitals go all weak-kneed when President Obama visits. Moscow has greeted Mr. Obama, who on Tuesday night concluded a two-day Russian-American summit meeting, as if he were just another dignitary passing through. Crowds did not clamor for a glimpse of him. Headlines offered only glancing or flippant notice of his activities. Television programming was uninterrupted; devotees of the Russian Judge Judy had nothing to fear. Even many students and alumni of the Western-oriented business school where Mr. Obama gave the graduation address on Tuesday seemed merely respectful, but hardly enthralled. “We don’t really understand why Obama is such...

The radical in the White House could not admit that the US won the Cold War today in an interview with Major Garret from FOX News.

JERUSALEM, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Air Force (IAF) plans to partake in several aerial drills abroad later this year in a bid to train its pilots for long-range flights, reported local daily The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The air force will send F-16C fighter jets to the U.S. state of Nevada later this month for the Red Flag exercise at the Nellis Air Force Base, and meanwhile dispatch several C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to participate in the Rodeo 2009 competition at the McChord Air Force Base in the state of Washington, said the report. In addition, the IAF...

Dear : Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R.2454 The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue. As you may know, this legislation is designed to reduce carbon emissions by 17% by 2020, achieve energy independence, reduce pollution, and transition to a clean energy economy. A primary concern with H.R. 2454 is that it would result in a significant tax increase on the electrical and energy bills of American families. I assure you that I have worked tirelessly with members of Congress to protect consumers from rising energy costs. According to...

Ex-congressman filmed accepting $100,000Published: 07/08/2009 By Matthew Barakat Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. - From four different angles, jurors saw a former Louisiana congressman accept a suitcase filled with $100,000 on videos played in court Tuesday. **SNIP** The recordings played in U.S. District Court show Lori Mody, a northern Virginia businesswoman who cooperated with an FBI investigation, leading Jefferson to the trunk of a car parked outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Pentagon City. Jefferson reaches in, grabs the suitcase and puts it in a small duffel bag. The FBI recorded the handoff from five different angles, and four of those were...

The top U.S. military officer says there is a narrow window of time in which to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and also to avoid a military strike on its nuclear facilities. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, said in Washington Tuesday dialogue is crucial but that time is running out. Admiral Mullen said he is very concerned about a state sponsor of terrorist groups, such as Iran, acquiring nuclear weapons. He said it would be "incredibly destabilizing" and could cause a regional arms race.

This is a big deal because taxing health benefits is the biggest possible piggy-bank the Dems can break to pay for ObamaCare. Without it, the whole thing may fall under its own weight. The Senators talked to constituents (or at least read some polls) over the Independence Day break and found, shockingly, that people don't like the idea of a huge tax increase.

The math says that a second stimulus will have to be funded with pure deficit spending, just like the first one, which means selling an equivalent amount of Treasury bonds. That's where stimulus money comes from. That's the stork that delivers it. And when investors buy Treasury bonds, they aren't putting the money towards something else. It simply goes to DC to be distributed as the government sees fit. While this will result in some lovely-sounding projects, it will also result in overpriced contracts, earmarks, and economically worthless pursuits like the construction of an ethnic heritage trail or a Las...

Fox News has this report. A former Guantanamo Bay inmate is leading the fight against U.S. Marines in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to FOX News on Tuesday. Mullah Zakir, also known as Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, surrendered in Mazar-e-Sharif in Northern Afghanistan in 2001, and was transferred to Gitmo in 2006. He was released in late 2007 to Afghan custody.

WASHINGTON - A widespread and unusually resilient computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the Web sites of several government agencies, including some that are responsible for fighting cyber crime, The Associated Press has learned. The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week, according to officials inside and outside the government. Some of the sites were still experiencing problems Tuesday evening.

After months on the fence, U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, voted in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act on Friday that he says will create jobs, reduce dependence on foreign oil and reduce pollution. Republicans say it will destroy jobs, increase our energy bills and is a ticket home for centrist Democrats in the 2010 Congressional elections. Schauer said the bill will help in the investment in clean and renewable energy sources, and will create about 3,600 jobs in the 7th district. "My top priority as a member of Congress is to fight for Michigan jobs,...

Prospective retirees: Panama wants you. The pitch? A plane ride just 21/2 hours from Miami enables the newly poor to swap a wretched retirement in the U.S. for one befitting a royal in the balmy Central American nation. Cash out! Emigrate! Feel rich! Panama—the new Florida. Spin aside, Panama is increasingly popular among retirement-age types looking to hedge against—or skip out on—the recession. The Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank that studies the movement of people around the world, says the chief factors prodding professional-class Americans to flock to Panama include its First World health care available at Third...

SNIPPET: "Meanwhile, if anyone has any sites to add to this list, or any other insights regarding HuT online, I'm right here."

Some popular alumni/members of the ISA: ~ Ahmed Omar Abu ALi was the class Valedictorian in 1999. He was indicted (2005) and has since been convicted and is now serving a 30 year prison sentence for: * Conspiracy to Assassinate President George W. Bush * Conspiracy to hijack a US Aircraft * Conspiracy to destroy US Aircraft ~ Abdalla I Al-Shabran. Director of Academy. Arrested in 2008. Charged with failing to report child abuse. Allegations and obstruction of justice. He received a "slap on the wrist" for covering up the abuse of a little girl. He was given a small...

With the election of abortion-friendly President Obama, abortion advocates have been praising the return of “science” to issues of reproductive health. Conversely, I am an advocate for the health of the unborn and question what “science” has to do with abortion on demand. Attempts to rationalize the morality of the abortion issue with abortion advocates is a losing proposition when they believe in subjective morality, i.e. morality is defined by the majority or, in this case, by the loudest contingent of the population. Therefore, let’s evaluate the issue on a more scientific basis...