Free Republic

In May 2010, two months after the Affordable Care Act squeaked through Congress, President Obama’s top economic aides were getting worried. Larry Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, and Peter Orzag, head of the Office of Management and Budget, had just received a pointed four-page memo from a trusted outside health adviser. It warned that no one in the administration was “up to the task” of overseeing the construction of an insurance exchange and other intricacies of translating the 2,000-page statute into reality. Summers, Orzag and their staffs agreed. For weeks that spring, a tug of war...

Bob Costas is one of the premier sportscasters and a very smart guy, so it was somewhat surprising to see him join the chorus of those decrying the fact that the owner of the Washington Redskins is resisting the pressures to change the name of his football team. The argument is that Native Americans are offended by the name, though there is no compelling evidence that most Native Americans are worked up about it. Nor is there any evidence that anyone intended the name to be insulting, either by this team or any number of other sports teams that have...

BRAZIL, Ind. - A western Indiana police department's search dog is off the job after biting an 11-year-old boy's leg during a demonstration inside the county courthouse. Brazil police chief Clint McQueen says the boy suffered puncture wounds to his calf when the dog bit him during a mock drug search being done for elementary school students as part of a Red Ribbon Awareness week kick-off event at the Clay County Courthouse. Judge J. Blaine Akers arranged for K-9 teams to carry out a simulated drug raid, to educate a group of fifth-graders about drug awareness. A small amount of...

Bill Fullner has reached his breaking point. It started with the letter from his health-insurance company informing him it was canceling his plan and offering him a new one that’s nearly twice as expensive. Then the 60-year-old retiree from Mount Vernon heard about more people like himself with canceled plans and soaring premiums. Finally, he spent hours on the phone and computer trying — and failing — to find a new option that he likes. “This whole experience has converted a lifelong Democrat into a foot soldier for the Republican Party,” Fullner said.

November 3, 2013 Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Wis 11:22-12:2 Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balanceor a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;and you overlook people's sins that they may repent.For you love all things that areand loathe nothing that you have made;for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it;or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?But you spare all things, because they...

NEWINGTON — Scott Hoffman is so determined to repeal the state's new gun laws that he is selling one of his most prized possessions, a one-of-a-kind Smith & Wesson pistol once touted as the most expensive handgun in the world. Hoffman's asking price for the special edition Smith & Wesson 629 .44-caliber Magnum, the same type of revolver made famous by the "Dirty Harry" movies: $100,000.

WOODBRIDGE — Republican Kenneth T. Cuccinelli got a boost from two midwestern Republican heavyweights Saturday as he tried to spur his voters to the polls by casting Tuesday’s gubernatorial election as a referendum on President Obama’s health care overhaul. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who grew up in Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker stumped for Mr. Cuccinelli Saturday afternoon after the state’s attorney general started his day in the Richmond area. “I’m here today, along with the support from other governors across the country, to testify that Ken Cuccinelli has what it takes to be a great leader...

WOODBRIDGE, Va.—Scott Walker warned Republicans at a rally here Saturday that Democrat Terry McAuliffe will be in the pocket of “big government union bosses” if he wins the Virginia governor’s race. The Wisconsin governor, a conservative icon for breaking the back of the public-employee unions in his blue state and then beating back their effort to recall him, said Republican Ken Cuccinelli also “knows how to take on the special interests.” “Do you want someone who is going to side with the big government labor unions,” he said at one of two stops ahead of Tuesday’s off-year election, “or do...

At least 137,000 people in the eight counties of Western New York have received, or will soon receive, a notice that President Obama said they would never get: a notice that their health insurance is being discontinued, and that they’ll have to shop for another plan. That’s the number of people who get insurance from Buffalo’s three major insurers who are destined to get the government-mandated letter, a jargon-filled tome that one local insurance executive called “a 14-page packet-o-whacket.” But one line of one version of the letter, which is being sent to people all around the country, is clear....

Outspent and behind in the polls, Republican Ken Cuccinelli began his Saturday early in reliably Republican western Henrico County, confident his campaign is gaining momentum. He implored supporters not to be outworked in the final three days of the race for governor. “They have money -- we have momentum,” Cuccinelli told more than 100 people crammed into Mimi's Restaurant in Short Pump for bacon, eggs and a helping of encouragement to knock on enough doors over the next 72 hours to tilt the county in his favor. “You all are in one of the swing counties -- this is going...

The miracles of Jesus attest to who Jesus is, God in flesh (John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9). Jesus used the Divine Name for Himself (John 8:58), the same Divine Name used by God when Moses asked God what His name was in Exodus 3:14. However, people claiming to be God is not that uncommon in the world. Mental institutions are filled with those who claim to be divine. But, Jesus doesn't fit the category of a crazy person. If anything, Jesus deserves the utmost respect and admiration for His humility, love, teaching, and self-sacrifice. But, even though there are other great...

"Led Zeppelin II is the second studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in October 1969 on Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at several locations in the United Kingdom and North America from January to August 1969. Production was credited to lead guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page, while it also served as Led Zeppelin's first album to utilise the recording techniques of engineer Eddie Kramer. With elements of blues and folk music, Led Zeppelin II also exhibits the band's evolving musical style of blues-derived material and their guitar and riff-based sound. It has...

Hi sorry this is just to note that "Tea Party" is currently at #9 on the national Yahoo search stories.

Forgot to set emergency brake.

Saturday, November 02, 2013 It's De Blasio Time Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Do you miss the old New York City? Remember when subway trains were covered in graffiti, a news hour began with six shootings and everyone who lived in the city had been mugged at least once? Remember when Times Square had more strip clubs than theaters and when you could afford an apartment in the village because it was a drug infested mess? Remember when the city and everyone living in it were on the verge of bankruptcy and the only people who...

Well-known civil rights activist Jesse Jackson wants Georgia's version of the stand your ground law thrown out. Jackson announced his support of a lawsuit filed in federal court on Friday in downtown Atlanta challenging the constitutionality of the statute. "The law must be a deterrent to murder. This law is virtually an incentive," Jackson said. Jackson believes Georgia's law is unfairly applied in some cases and not in others. "People are being killed and punished arbitrarily and the law should be consistent and not arbitrary," Jackson said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A prison doctor couldn’t find veins in the arms of an Ohio death row inmate during a pre-execution check-up, the inmate said Friday by video in rare court testimony as he challenges the state’s new, never-tried lethal-injection method. Condemned child killer Ronald Phillips said the doctor could find only a vein on his right hand following an examination on Oct. 18 at the medical centre at Chillicothe Correctional Institution, south of Columbus. “I guess the Lord hid my veins from them,” Phillips said. Phillips testified as part of a lawsuit brought by his attorneys to delay his...

I miss Ronald Reagan.I miss having a president that loves this country.I miss having a president who is OF this country!I miss the optimism he inspired, for us and for the world.I miss his humbleness and his humor.I miss his leadership, and his class.Thank you - Rest in peace, Mr. President.

HARMANS, Md. (WJZ) — It started with an online advertisement and a man looking to buy a car. But the purchase took a tragic turn. Linh Bui reports — Anne Arundel County Police now investigate a homicide. Police continue searching for the shooter who they say used Craigslist to find his victim. Halloween night, a Craigslist deal turned deadly. Just before 8 p.m., Anne Arundel County Police responded to a shooting in the 7400 block of Railroad Avenue in Harmans. Police found 44-year-old Rene Leiva-Archila of Baltimore badly wounded. “He was taken to the hospital and pronounced deceased, suffering from...

-excerpt- Lockheed Martin has unveiled plans for a hypersonic spy plane that could fly at Mach 6, twice as fast as its famed SR-71 Blackbird, and said a missile demonstrating the new technology could fly as early as 2018.