Free Republic

While arguing with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele about health care reform on Wednesday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith proclaimed: "...if the public option is socialism, then what is Medicare?....That people overwhelmingly think works pretty well for them." Steele pointed out Medicare’s obvious flaw: "Medicare’s a government-run program that is not – that is not doing that well....Harry, come on. How often do we have to do another reset on Medicare because it’s in default or running out of money?" Steele went on to challenge President Obama’s drastic approach to reform: "My only point is why do we...

The discovery of a weapons cache in western Afghanistan has raised concerns that Iran is interfering in the war-torn country, much like it did in Iraq, by supplying weapons used to attack and kill U.S. and coalition troops, U.S. officials tell FOX News. ...top U.S. military official tells FOX News that an Iranian rocket was recently fired at a base in Herat. Additional intelligence suggests that Iranians have been providing support directly to the Taliban.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman again showed a disturbing affection for China's dictatorship in his Wednesday column attacking Republican stubbornness on health care and climate change legislation ("Our One-Party Democracy"). Friedman pleaded for "enlightened" autocrats, able to get things accomplished against the will of the people, for their own good. Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today. One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when...

LIBERAL LIES ABOUT NATIONAL HEALTH CARE: FOURTH IN A SERIES by Ann CoulterSeptember 9, 2009 (12) Only national health care can provide "coverage that will stay with you whether you move, change your job or lose your job" -- as Obama said in a New York Times op-ed. This is obviously a matter of great importance to all Americans, because, with Obama's economic policies, none of us may have jobs by year's end. The only reason you can't keep -- or often obtain -- health insurance if you move or lose your job now is because of ... government...

I'm pleased that the White House is finally responding to Republican health care ideas instead of pretending they don't exist.[1] But in doing so President Obama should follow his own sound advice and avoid making "wild misrepresentations".[2] Medicare vouchers would give everyone on Medicare the chance to decide for themselves which health plan to use, rather than leave that decision to government bureaucrats. Such proposals are the kind of health care reform that Republicans stand for: market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven. The White House talking points leave the rest of my arguments unanswered. They don't respond to the idea that all...

If you have read my e-alerts the past several weeks, you're probably shocked at the plans our government has for our health care. As shocking as these plans are, what you're about to read could be the most shocking news yet. There's no conjecture in the following facts. The websites belong to the stated individual governments. The state of Massachusetts is in the process of passing a law that will mandate vaccines for the swine flu. This law, which you can read here: http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st02/st02028.htm, requires total compliance with a state health "authority." According to this bill, they get to decide...

NEW YORK -- Melanie Oudin might be the freshest face to come along in U.S. women's tennis in a decade, but she's also a throwback. Throughout the '70s, '80s and '90s, American fans grew accustomed to watching teen angels wing their way onto the scene every few years, from Chris Evert to Tracy Austin to Andrea Jaeger to Jennifer Capriati, all of whom were winning professional tournaments or making a splash in the majors before they turned 17.

Star Trails Over Oregon Explanation: As the Earth spins on its axis, the sky seems to rotate around us. This motion, called diurnal motion, produces the beautiful concentric trails traced by stars during time exposures. Partial-circle star trails are pictured above over Grants Pass, Oregon, USA last month. Near the middle of the circles is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), easily identified as the point in the sky at the center of all the star trail arcs. The star Polaris, commonly known as the North Star, made the very short bright circle near the NCP. About 12,000 years ago, the...

"Truthers" are the people who believe the 9/11 terror attacks were an inside job. That the Bush administration had advance knowledge of them and let them occur. In the more extreme version of an already extremist theory, truthers believe the U.S. government itself carried out the attacks as an excuse to take the nation to war. At the very least the truthers question the official version of events and want the government to reopen the investigation. In a way, they have a lot in common with those who to this day refuse to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the...

The Honorable James David Manning prays for America. Recorded on 4 Sept 2009.

The Washington Post on Wednesday expanded its attack on Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, branching out beyond the Republican’s 1989 master’s thesis to a hit piece on the removal of a 2003 judge and whether or not it was because of homophobia on the part of the then-state delegate. The story centered around Verbena M. Askew, a Virginia judge who had been accused of sexually harassing a female colleague. Post reporter Amy Gardner, who has written or co-written four of the Post’s 12 anti-McDonnell articles that have run over the last 11 days, stated that the 2003 removal of Askew...

Here is video of Glenn Beck's opening segment talking about Obama's upcoming speech and Cass Sunstein the "Regulator Czar." Beck asks the question "Are chickens people too?" Cass Sunstein wrote in 2004 "Animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives." Beck said Sunstein also believes "you should not be able to remove rats from your home, if it causes them any pain." (Watch Video)

Grading the Big Speech: A 10-Point Citizens' Checklist on Health Reform by Newt Gingrich President Obama has had a month to listen to the American people. For a month, angry Americans have gone to town hall meetings in large numbers to oppose more spending, more government, and more Washington centered bureaucracy. For a month, the polls have gotten worse and worse for big spending, big deficit, high taxes, and big government. But on Labor Day, President Obama gave us a sign he hasn't been listening. He gave a campaign-style speech in which he accused his critics of spreading "lies" and...

Note: Photos included. 09 September 2009 "IT'S A MAN'S LIFE IN THE CHECHEN JIHAD Abu Osama evidently didn't get the memo from Savvy Irhabi."

Pro-Life people of good will have succeeded in bringing to the forefront the most important concern of all, our obligation to protect human life and human dignity. Federal Funds must not be used to promote the taking of innocent human life through intentional abortion, PERIOD. The Anti-Life effects of such a “Government Option” has all but killed any hope the US administration had of receiving support from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops... Governor Palin wrote “…is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of...

At least 44 more moderate Members of the Democrat Caucus have gone on the record in opposition to the current health care bill in the House, a Hill source claims. Likewise, at least 57 liberal Members of the Democrat Caucus have gone on the record saying they will vote against a health care bill without a strong public option. Unless multiple Democrats flip on their stated position on health care, Speaker Pelosi lacks the votes to pass a bill through the House on the strength of Democrat votes alone. WHIP COUNT 44 Democrats Opposed

When Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the mega-best seller "Eat, Pray, Love"—and the world's most lauded singleton since Jill Clayburgh in 1978's "An Unmarried Woman"—spoke at Washington's National Cathedral one Sunday last spring, more than 2,000 of Ms. Gilbert's, er, worshipers showed up at the shrine. The size of the crowd caused the cathedral's dean to observe wryly that he doesn't usually do that kind of business on Sundays. But a huge turnout was nothing new for Ms. Gilbert, a genuine phenomenon: "This has been going for three years," the Washington Post reported. Ms. Gilbert has customarily drawn such crowds...

''Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.'' '("Politics and the English Language," George Orwell) double·speak: language used to deceive usually through concealment or misrepresentation of truth

Arrived in DC this afternoon safe and sound. I will be posting pics at link over the next few days. If technically able, also links to YouTube vids of the Tea Party March itself. Staying at the FR Hotel, but I haven't met up with any FReepers yet. From my hotel window, I have a view of the Washington Monument and this other monument that I don't recall... I also saw Marine 1 flying in this afternoon as Obozo returned from some sort of memorial for Walter Crankheit... More pics to come. G

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