Free Republic

"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases." That sounds like a stern headmistress dressing down some sophomores who have been misbehaving. But it's actually from a letter sent Thursday from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans -- the chief lobbyist for private health insurance companies. Sebelius objects to claims by health insurers that they are raising premiums because of increased costs imposed by the Obamacare law passed by Congress last March. She acknowledges that many of the law's "key protections" take effect later...

By Chico Harlan Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 13, 2010; 12:26 PM SEOUL - One week after delegates from across the country arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea has issued no word about a landmark party conference that once seemed imminent. The presumed delay in the Workers' Party conference - viewed by outside experts as a means to solidify a hereditary power transfer - has raised concerns that something is amiss, with one South Korean television news station on Monday attributing the holdup to health problems of leader Kim Jong Il.

"...And it awarded a $216,625 no-bid contract for a survey of seabirds to an environmental group that has criticized what it calls the "extreme anti-conservation record" of Sarah Palin, a possible 2012 rival to President Barack Obama."

Need more evidence that, with midterm elections looming, the traditional base of support for President Obama is eroding? Consider the recent comments made by Noam Chomsky that sound remarkably similar to anti-Bush rhetoric of roughly three years ago. All that’s missing is a comparison to Hitler. Oh wait…seems like he did that too. In an interview for the New Statesmen, Alyssa McDonald writes: What are your thoughts on President Obama? He’s involved in war crimes right now. For example, targeted assassinations are war crimes. That’s escalated quite sharply under Obama. If you look at WikiLeaks, there are a lot of...

'It is often said of goalkeepers that they have nothing to lose in a penalty shoot-out. Tell that to Khalid El Askri.'

The Global Biodiversity Assessment Report directed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) calls for urgent action to reverse the effects of unsustainable human activities on global biodiversity, including but not limited to the following: PAGE REFERENCES from "The Global Biodiversity Assessment Report" 337 Ski Runs 350 Grazing of Livestock: cows, sheep, goats, horses 351 Disturbance of the Soil Surface - Page 350 Large hoofed animals, compaction of soil, reducing filtration 351 Fencing of Pastures or Paddocks 728 Agriculture 728 Modern Farm Production Systems 728 Chemical Fertilizers 728 Herbicides 728 Building Materials 730 Industrial Activities 730 Human-Made caves of brick...

Did Catholic priests really rape 10,000 children over the past 50 years, as respectable media outlets claim? No, they didn't.Brendan O’Neill Apparently the British state is about to roll out the red carpet for a seriously evil rape facilitator. Pope Benedict XVI is the boss of a church that acts as a ‘patron, protector and financier of child rape’, says one secularist writer. Last week the UK Independent reported that in America, ‘over 10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped as part of this misery-go-round’ overseen by His Holiness and His Lackeys. In Ireland alone, a tiny...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A defense lawyer says a student accused of cutting a Muslim taxi driver's neck in New York City has post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic alcoholism. A Manhattan judge said Monday he'll decide at arraignment whether to grant bail for Michael Enright, of Brewster, N.Y.

The stock market may be dragging, but home prices are soaring, fueling a national obsession with real estate. Your house is now your piggy bank. —“Home Sweet Home,” Time Magazine, June 2005 Buying a house is supposed to make us better citizens, better investors and better off. But that American Dream may well be a fantasy. —“The Case Against Homeownership,” Time Magazine, September 2010 Longtime readers of NotMakingThisUp know exactly where we’re going with this—or at least the general direction. But before we get there, let’s recap the story so far. All human beings—and especially those creatures residing on Wall...

Peggy Mashke tends to 12 children for 12 hours a day at her home, so she was surprised to get a letter welcoming her to the United Auto Workers union. "I thought it was a joke," said Mashke, 50, of northern Michigan's Ogemaw County. "I work out of my home. I'm not an auto worker. How can I become a member of the UAW? I didn't get it." Willing or not, Mashke and 40,000 other at-home providers are members of a labor partnership that represents people across Michigan who watch children from low-income families. Two unions receive 1.15 percent of...

Buffett: I See A Huge Recovery Across All Of Our Businesses Happening Right Now Joe Weisenthal Sep. 13, 2010, 1:57 PM Warren Buffett has never been too pessimistic on the economy, though he's never been one to see consensus on the way up. Throughout 2009, as the media saw more and more green shoots, the word ouf ot Berkshire Hathaway was one of skepticism. This year his tone has mostly been one of caution. And now that the media is obsessed with the double-dip scenario? Bloomberg: “I am a huge bull on this country,” Buffett, Berkshire’s chief executive officer, said...

The 2010 mid-terms may be dominated by antipathy toward incumbents, and political upstarts may be knocking off long-time party favorites from Florida to Alaska, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t extremely difficult to mount a challenge to a well-established incumbent. That’s what Dr. Donna Campbell is discovering as she takes on U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett in Congressional District 25. “It is daunting,” Campbell said. “I’m coming up against somebody that, he’s an entrenched incumbent, and it’s not an easy task.” As an eight-term congressman who preceded his time in the House with stints in the Texas Senate and the Texas...

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuban announced on Monday it would lay off "at least" half a million state workers over the next six months and simultaneously allow more jobs to be created in the private sector as the socialist economy struggles to get back on its feet. The plan announced in state media confirms that President Raul Castro is following through on his pledge to shed some one million state jobs, a full fifth of the official workforce -- but in a shorter timeframe than initially anticipated. "Our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities and services...

With President Obama's poor record on the economy, it isn't too surprising that he would want Mr. Austan Goolsbee to put a positive spin on the current economic conditions. Mr. Goolsbee, whose academic work was known for supposedly showing that increased tax rates didn't effect how hard people worked, has now been appointed as the head of the president's Council of Economic Advisors. But Goolsbee has become quite practiced for his ability to "spin" the news, not for his accuracy. We got a taste of his talents when he made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows rounds yesterday. On...

WINCHESTER -- Samson the St. Bernard joins a growing list of dangerous dogs in the region that have attacked people or other animals. Winchester General District Judge David S. Whitacre declared Samson "dangerous" Tuesday for biting a young boy in the face at a relative's home earlier this summer. The attack left the boy with wounds that required surgery at a University of Virginia hospital.

A St. Petersburg police officer shot and killed two dogs Sunday night that were attacking a blind dog, according to the police department. At around 8:17 p.m., Officer Slobodan Juric was dispatched to the 4600 block of 6th Ave. North in reference to a suspicious person call. When Juric arrived, he talked to residents who were outside about the suspicious-person call and asked if they had seen the person who was wanted. While he was talking to residents, a Rottweiler and a Chesapeake Bay retriever, who were on leashes, attacked a blind dog that was off its leash but next...

"Why as a Society are we allowing this to happen around the Nation? To show how mainstream and accepted this has become, watch this video of a Cop (with his partner assisting) who doesn’t like the actions of his Fantasy Football Teammate. Did you laugh? I didn’t either and I plan to contact DirecTV and demand they pull this offensive commercial. What about the Bud Light commercial where a fully equipped SWAT team secures the beer and pizza, but leaves the individual needing help stranded across the hall?"

♪ ♫Who can take Osama, And hide him all around? Run away an' hide, When the bombs are fallin' down, The Taliban, (the Taliban) Yes the Taliban can, (the Taliban can) The Taliban can cos they mix a lotta nuts and screw the world real good,♪ ♫ -Adam Sandler Thousands in Afghanistan protested yesterday (with two more deaths), oblivious that God already talked to Pastor Jones: The pastor, Terry Jones, told NBC on Saturday that "we feel that God is telling us to stop" the Quran burning, which had stirred outrage among millions of Muslims and others worldwide. "We're...

Norman Podhoretz has offered us an elegant, condensed political history of the Jews. He recounts how beleaguered Jews have repeatedly looked in two places for solace: to the heavens and to the government. As religiosity waned, government was viewed as the sole power capable of restraining the savagery of localized violence. Since nature abhors a spiritual vacuum, Podhoretz concludes that the religion of liberalism—that is, faith in the powers of government—has replaced Judaism in the hearts of Jews. The lesson of Rabbi Chanina in Pirkei Avot became the dominant political motif: “If not for the government, people would eat each...

In Shelby Township, being the police chief doesn't make you the highest paid law enforcement officer in town. That honor went to a patrol officer, whose gross pay (including overtime) of $112,211 in 2009 exceeded the police chief's by almost $4,000, according to documents received in a Freedom of Information Act request. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data from May of 2009, police and sheriff patrol officers made $51,270 (not including overtime) on average in the state of Michigan. All but five of the Shelby Township patrol officers surpassed that average salary in 2009. The average gross pay...