Free Republic

The worst thing that can be said about the House health bill is what’s in it. Presumably that explains why Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office zapped as “false and misleading” one of our recent editorials—on the 1974 federal law known as Erisa that lets large businesses offer insurance with minimal government interference. Among the rebuttals is the “fact” that Democrats will give “all American families more choices of quality, affordable health care.”

During the recent financial crisis, I didn’t meet anyone else who was invested in stocks and bonds. I guess I was the only one. Everyone else was holding “cash,” as they often quietly boasted. But even if your money is kept under a mattress, cash is best understood as a zero-coupon bond, in most cases drawn against an overdrawn nation-state. Cash may be king, but the sovereign looks more temporary than a Romanov heir living in a rented villa in the south of France. The risk comes about because, in order to be held in any amount, money has to...

MIAMI (AP) -- Someone is killing the horses of Miami-Dade County. Since January, police say at least 17 horses have been butchered, their carcasses left on roadsides or in stalls or rural pastures.

A cruise ship carrying dozens of victims of swine flu among its 5,000 passengers and crew has docked in the south of France, officials have said. Sixty crew members have so far been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, while 70 of their colleagues were also showing signs of being infected, they added. They will be treated on board the ship while it docks at Villefranche-sur-Mer.

In one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek, Captain Kirk is mistaken for a god by inhabitants of a planet of Native Americans (it’s a long story). The illusion works for Kirk until a jealous shaman cuts Kirk’s hand, revealing that the divine being is just a man after all. “Behold! A god who bleeds!” the shaman mocks, exposing Kirk as a fraud to the rest of the tribe. It may sound like a stretch — and, let’s be fair, it is — but I keep thinking of that episode when I look Barack Obama’s poll numbers these days....

If anyone might have the right to revel in a bit of health-care schadenfreude, it’s John Dingell. Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman ought to feel lucky he’s foregone the pleasure. The Michigan Democrat, at least until last year, presided over the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. As such, Mr. Dingell, the House’s longest-serving dealmaker, was positioned to be point man for President Barack Obama’s health-care and climate priorities

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just agreed to host another shootout over gun rights. The court decided Wednesday to review en banc a panel ruling that had significantly broadened Second Amendment protections by applying them to state and local governments. This holding, arrived at by Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, is at odds with other rulings from around the country -- including one penned by 2nd Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The 9th Circuit panel had still upheld an Alameda County, Calif., ordinance that forbids a gun show at a public fairground. Thus neither side had asked for en banc review....

The international stocks are significantly correlated. Stocks around the globe tend to go up and down together or at the same time. If U.S. stocks are rising then international stocks tend to follow, but they may not run at the same pace. Quite often emerging economies run ahead of U.S. stocks. This article will discuss why options may be a great way to leverage growth opportunities and diversify into fast growing emerging economies. Amongst emerging market funds, those concentrating on the "BRIC" economies are the most popular. BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China. Sometimes an emerging market fund...

As everyone else’s taxes rise, one favored outfit may not have to pay federal taxes for years: General Motors. In another sweet deal from its benefactors on Pennsylvania Avenue, the government-owned car company is set to profit from billions of dollars in tax breaks not available to other businesses in the same predicament.

This is what appears to anger today's Russian historical establishment: accounts of Red Army crimes on the march to Berlin; assertions by the Baltic countries and others in Eastern Europe that Soviet forces came as occupiers as much as liberators; any suggestion that Stalin's Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were anything but complete opposites and bitter enemies.

It seems almost certain at this point that whatever health reform legislation is ultimately enacted by Congress, its principal funding will come from a surtax on the top 1% or so of taxpayers. This is a very bad idea for reasons that have little to do with the economic effects of taxation. It's wrong in principle to enact a government program with broad benefits that is so narrowly funded. It ensures that the financing of health reform will be precarious and its political support will rest on a weak foundation. This will make it easier for a future conservative government...

Bloomberg is link only and here it is: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNivTjr852TI If you are a FReeper and you are surprised by this article's information, you should resign.

Remember the fairy tale about AIG being an otherwise healthy insurance company that just got a little crazy selling credit default swaps? Well, it's time to put that one to rest. The New York Times has reviewed state regulatory filings and discovered that "AIG's individual insurance companies have been doing an unusual volume of business with each other for many years — investing in each other’s stocks; borrowing from each other’s investment portfolios; and guaranteeing each other’s insurance policies, even when they have lacked the means to make good. Insurance examiners working for the states have occasionally flagged these activities,...

I just received this e-mail from a career website similar to Monster, Hotjobs and Careerbuilder. I'd like to share the contents with FReepers who are looking for jobs in this recessionary period. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Research has shown us that the only hot job market in the U.S. today is the Federal job market. This was illustrated recently when the largest-ever federal job fair the "Partnership for Public Service" has held in Washington D.C. This job fair has grown tremendously over the last few years. For example two years ago there were 1,500 job seekers attending. Last year the number of attendies...

President Barack Obama wouldn't understand me. In fact, I don't think he or many other people on the ideological left truly understand what motivates anyone to be a conservative, at least if that person isn't white and wealthy or white and ignorant. This cultural xenophobia causes conservatives to be viewed with hostility and contempt at times but with suspicion and mistrust always. A bit of speculation would suggest that Mr. Obama's myopic political/cultural vision is based on his detachment from the real world for so long, being surrounded by elites at Harvard, union types at SEIU, activists from ACORN and...

Am I the only one who finds it odd that the media is paying exponentially more attention to the birther issue today than during the campaign? There was reason to ignore conspiracy theories during the campaign. There were a great deal of lies flying around about Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008 (there were a few flying around about John McCain and Sarah Palin as well). But the treatment of the "birthers" is peculiar. I went on Nexis and did a search of the broad "news" category of the phrase: "birth certificate" and Obama. In the past month there were...

Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety — welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress.

Anyone watch BOR last night? During the first part of his program, he discussed this Gates crap, the beer summit, etc. He even had Jerry Rivers on and Rivers stated at one point that blacks and Hispanics have a different cultural experience than whites in the United States. Later on in the program, he attempt to make a joke about Michael Jackson leaving money to his monkey and he should this clip of a chimp doing the moon walk while at the same time showing Michael Jackson doing the same thing to the tune of Billie Jean. My jaw nearly...

At yesterday's United States Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on "Medical Research and Education: Higher Learning or Higher Earning?", most of the testimony focused on pharma industry support of continuing medical education (CME). ..... ...... With the billions of dollars of industry money flowing into CME, who is guarding the integrity of the CME process?," asked Nissen. "Current oversight by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) is largely ineffective. The ACCME has strict rules governing educational activities, but appears uninterested or incapable of enforcing them. I am unaware of any communications companies that have lost their accreditation...

Please try to stick to the guidelines, and add a favourite track from the album if possible. Thanks! Get a Grip - Aerosmith (Livin on the Edge) Garbage - Garbage ( Queer) Graceland - Paul Simon ( Under African Skies) The Gathering - Testament ( 3 Days in Darkness) Ghost in the Machine - The Police ( Invisible Sun) Good To Be Bad - Whitesnake ( Title Track) Gulag Orkestar - Beirut ( Postcards from Italy) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ( Title Track) Genesis - Genesis ( Home By the Sea) Geogaddi - Boards of Canada ( 1969)