Free Republic

When Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius visited Tennessee on Friday for an outreach event on the Affordable Care Act, she received an unwelcome gift from a Republican state senator. Brian Kelsey, the state senator, presented Sebelius with a copy of "Websites for Dummies," a reference to the disastrous rollout of the federal health-insurance website, HealthCare.gov: The Daily News in Memphis captured the moment in which Kelsey handed the book to Sebelius. She does not look very amused: At the event in Memphis, Sebelius sought to combat what she said was misinformation being pushed on Obamacare. "There is...

About 130 Catholic scholars around the country have signed a hard-hitting letter to U.S. Catholic bishops denouncing the Common Core State Standards as doing “a grave disservice to Catholic education” and urging the bishops to ignore the standards or, in the more than 100 dioceses that have already adopted them, to give them up. The letter was sent by Gerard V. Bradley, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, to every Catholic bishop in the country, with 132 scholars from various disciplines and institutions signing on. It blasts the standards, saying they are “contrary to tradition and academic...

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Egypt's churches came under attack once again yesterday when a procession of students linked to the Muslim Brotherhood attacked the church of the Virgin Mary in Zaytoun , in the eastern part of Cairo, which marks the site of a famous apparition of Our Lady . The group - which came directly from Friday prayers in the mosque next door - clashed with some young Christians, who prevented the Islamists from storming the building. Thanks to the intervention of some passers-by, who calmed the brawl, a more serious incident of violence was avoided, but the...

Dean Griffin liked the health insurance he purchased for himself and his wife three years ago and thought he'd be able to keep the plan even after the federal Affordable Care Act took effect. But the 64-year-old recently received a letter notifying him the plan was being canceled because it didn't cover certain benefits required under the law. The Griffins, who live near Philadelphia, pay $770 monthly for their soon-to-be-terminated health care plan with a $2,500 deductible. The cheapest plan they found on their state insurance exchange was a so-called bronze plan charging a $1,275 monthly premium with deductibles totaling...

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve...

I believe that it is incumbent upon born-again Christians to become well-informed about homosexuality, even though this is not a topic that is either enjoyable or entertaining to deal with. To help you get an idea of how well-informed you are, or are not, about homosexuality, I have developed this quick and easy–to-use “Fact Checker”. It will not only show you your current level of knowledge of the facts and truth about homosexuality, but it will also point you to key resources that will correct any misperceptions that you may have picked up from the liberal media or well-meaning, albeit...

Kathleen Sebelius keeps saying there’s no data to support the idea that the health care law is adversely affecting business. So here’s a piece of data for her:

Fellow Conservatives: Remember this name: MATT BEVIN. He's the man the Washington establishment fears most. Matt Bevin (R-KY)Matt Bevin (R-KY) is the conservative candidate running against U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in Kentucky. He is attempting to defeat a party leader in a primary election, something that has never been done in the history of this country. Mitch McConnell refuses to listen to the grassroots and has sided with the Democrats to pass bailouts, debt increases, tax hikes, and Obamacare funding. If Matt Bevin wins, it will be a major blow to the big-spending DC establishment. Not only will it...

He went from tokens to toking. “Subway vigilante” Bernie Goetz has turned to peddling pot, cops say, decades after he pumped five shots into four black teenagers, skyrocketing him to national fame and infamy. The gunman, who divided the city after shooting four black teens in 1984, was arrested in Manhattan after selling a small amount of marijuana to an undercover narcotics cop Friday evening, police said. Goetz, who will be celebrating his 66th birthday next Thursday, reportedly chatted up the undercover female officer at Union Square Park at about 5:30 p.m. and “asked her if she wanted to get...

Navy SEALs ordered to remove ‘don’t tread on me’ Navy Jack from uniforms 10:44 AM 11/01/2013 Carl Higbie Author, 'Battle on the Home Front' The Navy Jack is the ‘don’t tread on me’ flag, one that has earned a revered place in America’s naval history and a beloved place in sailor’s hearts, through its use for over two centuries. This symbol of America’s naval ferocity has spanned our country’s entire existence, flying from the masts of the Continental Navy during the war of independence, to today’s War on Terror. In fact, an amendment to the Navy code called SECNAV Instruction...

November 1, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At least nine Texas abortion clinics have suspended abortions starting today after an Appeals Court reinstated key provisions of the state’s hotly contested pro-life law yesterday, according to reports. The ruling came just three days after U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel had struck down sections of the law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and to follow FDA guidelines in administering the abortion drug RU-486.

et's suppose for a moment that you actually could buy health insurance through Obamacare's state and federal government-run exchanges. How high would your health care expenses have to be to really justify buying that kind of insurance? Previously, when we asked if you even need health insurance, we identified a number of situations where having health insurance would be most beneficial to you (Sean Parnell adds to that discussion here). All the scenarios came down to one basic reality: buying health insurance is most worth doing when you can reasonably expect to have high health care expenses in the next...

Updated at 5 p.m.: The Georgia National Guard this afternoon indicated it intends to ignore a directive from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and will continue to send same-sex spouses of National Guard personnel elsewhere for benefits guaranteed by the Pentagon. “The State of Georgia does not recognize same sex marriages and is not authorizing the Georgia National Guard to process the applications for same-sex married benefits at state facilities. Any personnel seeking to apply for same-sex married benefits will be referred to federal facilities.” The statement was in response to this piece by the Associated Press: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel...

No witnesses saw the gruesome end of a road-rage clash between Scottsdale lawyer David Appleton and ex-rodeo cowboy Paul "Tom" Pearson in the dark parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy on the evening of November 10, 2011. As Appleton tells it, speaking publicly for the first time about the incident, the "moment of truth" came as he flailed against the seat belt of his blue Toyota FJ Cruiser, his neck firmly in the grasp of the bigger man reaching through the driver's-side window with his left hand. "He used an expert chokehold," says Appleton, now 61. "He had big hands,...

SIERRA VISTA — Hopping out of several different private planes at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport, a group of third-graders from Imagine Charter School at Sierra Vista couldn’t wait to compare experiences. They started chattering back and forth, some jumped up and down. “It was so awesome.” “I got to fly.” “I almost puked.” That last statement came from third-grader Juaduan Perez, who discovered on Friday that he is most comfortable on the ground. “It felt weird,” Juaduan said, of his first flight in an airplane. Judging from the reaction of his peers, Juaduan was the exception and not the...

On Tuesday, ultra-"progressive," anti-Second Amendment, anti-NRA (and "gun criminal"?) Bill Maher told CNN's Piers Morgan that Obama should not have lied to the American people, as he did with his categorical assertion that people who were happy with their current health insurance plans would not lose them. But, as Politico notes, he appears willing to cut Obama some slack, over what he evidently believes are extenuating circumstances: But Maher acknowledged that Obama faced a tough battle with the GOP to pass the Affordable Care Act.“Can you imagine what it would be like if he said, ‘Yeah, some people you’re rates...

Global Power: Moscow launches four ICBMs in a large-scale nuclear drill as Chinese state media, brandishing detailed maps, show how Beijing's nuclear submarines can attack U.S. cities. We press "reset," they press "launch." In March 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a red "reset button" to symbolize improved ties. The era of confrontation when American presidents demanded the tearing down of walls was over. From now on, we would make nice. Fast-forward to 2012, when President Obama met with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's then-president and now prime minister, at the Nuclear Security Summit in...

It's as though two completely separate conversations have been going on. From day one, the health policy community has correctly seen the Affordable Care Act as an attempt to completely change the health care system. This isn't even controversial. It's accepted by all as an undisputed fact. However, no one has ever said this to the American people. In fact, the message of the Obama presidency — going all the way back to the 2008 campaign — was just the opposite. In that election, Barack Obama rejected Hillary Clinton's call for an individual mandate (a proposal that would obviously affect...

<p>May I ask this question? Why is it that Americans don't have the freedom to choose their own health insurance? I just don't get it. Why must the liberal nanny state make decisions for us? We can make them ourselves, thank you very much. It's like choosing a car, buying a home or investing in a stock. We can handle it.</p>

<p>WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — A wedding at West Point of two graduates will be the first at the storied military academy between two men.</p> <p>Larry Choate III, class of 2009, will marry Daniel Lennox, class of 2007, on Saturday at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel.</p>