Free Republic

The race in Congress to pass bipartisan healthcare legislation this summer hit a rough spot yesterday as key senators raised doubts about whether they could sort out complex policy disagreements in time. Republicans called on Democrats to slow the pace of deliberations, and Democratic leaders sounded decidedly less confident about speedy approval amid festering divisions. Members of the Senate Finance Committee, which is searching for a bipartisan compromise, acknowledged they were not close to a deal. Last spring Democratic leaders set an aggressive timetable for passage of universal healthcare coverage, agreeing to vote before the Aug. 8 recess, return in...

WASHINGTON, DC -- Even though new claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, dipping below 600,000 for the first time since early January, the number of Americans seeking this safety net points to an economy that is still very weak.Layoffs are slowing, but jobs are scarce, leaving nearly 7 million Americans collecting unemployment checks and retailers looking for customers.The number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment insurance fell by 52,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 565,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. But the drop was mostly due to a shift in the timing of auto-related layoffs, leading many economists...

Add this to the list of apologies..."In the past the United States has fallen short of meeting it's responsibilities"...(Video)

Instead of looking on the half empty glass and to appoint all the so called failures of Netanyahu, I choose to focus actually with a optimistic point on the other full half of the glass ,and why? because its only the first 100 days.in Sports they call it the test of the result,the measure is not how and why, the main point is on the final result, and in our case , its still early to summarize the work of the present government, but upon completion of the first Hundred days, it's possible to say that the test of the...

The Senate does not plan to make any serious moves toward approving a climate change bill until September, a month later than its leaders' previous expectation. Sen. Barbara Boxer today told reporters that she will not draft a climate change bill in her Environment and Public Works Committee until September, throwing the timetable for action in the chamber into doubt on one of President Obama's top legislative goals. According to published reports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., agreed to move his deadline for Boxer's and other committees to complete work on a climate change bill to Sept. 28, more...

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) -- A southwest Florida woman was arrested after deputies said she assaulted her 71-year-old common-law husband after he complained about her cooking. A Lee County Sheriff's Office arrest report shows 66-year-old Meredith Hart Mulcahy was charged with battery on an elderly person Tuesday night. Deputies said the man got into an argument with her about undercooked potatoes and burnt bread.He went to the bedroom and began eating, and authorities said the woman then threw a phone at him. Deputies said Mulcahy became belligerent in the back seat of the patrol car and told them that she...

Hunters in New Jersey usually have their hands full keeping tabs on Trenton politicians with anti-hunting agendas. That doesn't mean they should take their eyes off public officials in Washington who might have similar mindsets. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) suggests one current example is President Barack Obama's choice of prolific law professor Cass Sunstein to head an important regulatory body. The president selected Sunstein - a friend and adviser who has expressed positions seen by USSA to be anti-hunting - to be in charge of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Sunstein, who teaches at Harvard, could...

Michelle? You better watch out! LOL! Hubby's checking out another booty.

President Obama's gesture was his latest effort to reach out to controversial world leaders in an attempt to improve the United States' standing around the world that he says was damaged by former President Bush's unilateral diplomacy.

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. regulators told banks Wednesday that registered warrants being issued by the state of California will be treated similarly to other general obligations of the state.... For capital purposes, the guidance from regulators said, this means the warrants would receive a 20% risk weight

When Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, was released on July 7, it sparked world-wide discussion and commentary. Catholic World Report asked a group of leading Catholic intellectuals to reflect on the encyclical, its place in the larger body of Catholic social teaching, and Pope Benedict's vision of a well-ordered and just society.J. Brian Benestad, Francis J. Beckwith, Father Joseph Fessio, S.J., Richard Garnett, Thomas S. Hibbs, Paul Kengor, George Neumayr, Joseph Pearce, Tracey Rowland, Father James V. Schall, and Rev. Robert A. Sirico share their thoughts on Caritas in Veritate, below.  J. Brian Benestad:In 1986 the Congregation...

POLITICO: In a speech in upstate New York, Vice President Biden again took on critics of the Obama administration's stimulus plan. "And I say to those who are our critics who say we're doing too much...is there any possibility that we’re going to be able to lead the 21st Century like we did the 20th?" "It's easier to throw those bombs than to catch them. It’s a lot easier to b

Among Democrats on Capitol Hill, black aides are significantly more likely to work for committees whose chairmen are African-American, according to a survey conducted by the Congressional Black Caucus. Blacks make up nearly half the staffs at two committees with black chairmen — the Oversight and Government Reform and Homeland Security — while there are only two blacks among the 55 staff members working for the House Agriculture and Rules committees, both of which are headed by white representatives. “The survey confirms what members have noticed anecdotally—the lack of African-American staffers on Capitol Hill, particularly in senior positions,” said Representative...

…. and all is not right Just a few days after the official start of summer, while much of the nation sweltered under a heat wave, the House narrowly passed what was largely regarded as a “landmark” climate change bill. The Waxman-Markey Bill, which would limit carbon dioxide pollution and require the use of renewable energy is due to take effect two and a half years from now—despite what would seem an existential urgency for all humankind in the most dire terms possible. With their heads in the sand and their sunburned asses in the air, 212 congressmen voted against...

Moral Relativism; The Liberal LynchpinPosted By Michael McGruther On July 9, 2009 @ 2:51 pm In Entertainment, Politics, Religion | 2 Comments The vast majority of adults in this world know that moral perfection is absolutely impossible, so I get upset when self proclaimed Hollywood/MSM liberals ruthlessly attack any conservative that cannot do the impossible; avoid succumbing to temptation for their entire life. Hollywood/MSM liberals always use this angle to attack conservatives nationwide because by strongly believing in nothing specific they’ve set themselves up to perpetually come out on top of any moral argument, guilt, worry and public-scorn free.[1] In...

President appears to be picking up some of his predecessors more, shall we say, unseemly, habits!

I approach the energy debate with the basic assumption that our current energy policy is not working. We are dangerously dependent on foreign sources of energy, and this dependence is expensive. One of the biggest misconceptions about the energy bill is that it would impose thousands of dollars in costs on the average household. This is simply not true.

A rule that prevents many HIV-positive immigrants and travelers from entering the United States will likely be lifted before the year is up, after the Department of Health and Human Services earlier this month recommended changing the regulation. Immigration and HIV/AIDS advocacy groups have been working to repeal the 22-year-old rule, which they call discriminatory, dangerous, and debilitating to the strength of the U.S. scientific community. A large number of foreigners with the human immunodeficiency virus would benefit from the change, the groups say, when these individuals would finally be able to enter the country to see loved ones, attend...

Wanted: Woman seeking man: tall, handsome, bright, family-oriented leader of the free world. Sure, only one gentleman fills that bill at the moment, and a Chicago lawyer named Michelle snatched up that skinny Harvard grad years ago. But across the country, many women dare to harbor the audacious hope of finding "their own Barack" - a man with integrity, character and spirituality, one who loves and values his wife and makes his family a priority no matter how busy his schedule is. In other words, the kind of man that many women had lost hope of finding, especially in this...

Like a giant fist punching through the earth, a 1,000-foot long section of the beach below Bluff Point rose up 20 feet from the tidelands sometime last Friday or late Thursday, pushing boulders up from the ocean bottom, cracking sandstone slabs and toppling rocks upside down. Below Bluff Point, a new fissure opened up at the base of the 800-foot high cliff. The uplift could be a re-activation of a landslide that happened perhaps 12,000 years ago. "There was just beach before," said Ron Hess, who lives on Bluff Road above the new uplift. "Now there are tidal pools." "You...