Free Republic

BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart. As Dr. Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care. The agreement is inked a few days later, pending approval of the Cayman parliament. Tending to India's Health-Care System Dr. Shetty, who entered...

Unionized workers in the Chicago Sun-Times' newsroom have rejected demands for deep pay cuts and work-rule changes, putting at risk a planned sale of the financially struggling newspaper to an investment group. ... Members of the Chicago Newspaper Guild were asked to lock in temporary 15% compensation cuts and agree to wiping out seniority rules and reducing severance guarantees. The union rejected those demands 83-22 Tuesday. Sun-Times Media Chairman Jeremy Halbreich has told workers that a rejection will mean the end of the company.

Rep. Markey’s scheduled public meetings on federal health care reform: 08/18 Congress on Your Corner Ft Collins 9am – 12pm 08/19 Congress on Your Corner Greeley 11am – 1pm 08/20 Congress on Your Corner Longmont 3pm – 5pm 08/21 Seniors Day Event Greeley 1pm – 3pm 08/22 Congress on Your Corner Ft Lupton 10:00am – 12:00pm 08/24 Tele-Town Hall Meeting District-wide 7:30pm – 8:30pm 08/26 Congress on Your Corner Ft Collins 10:30am – 12pm 08/28 Congress on Your Corner Ft Morgan 9am – 10:30am 09/01 Congress on Your Corner Johnstown 8:30am – 10am 09/02 Congress on Your Corner Windsor 1pm...

Denver (AP) Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has awarded some of the state's first stimulus money to his former employer in a no-bid contract. Ritter hired his former law firm, the Washington-based Hogan & Hartson, in a no-bid contract to review stimulus spending, The Denver Post reported Friday. It said the firm was paid $40,000 in stimulus money through June. ...

LONGMONT — Free Marijuana in Longmont is collecting signatures to ask voters in November to change city pot laws. But even some members of the group aren’t confident they’ll get the question on the ballot. The group wants to legalize possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana for adults and reduce city penalties for public consumption of marijuana and possession of some types of drug paraphernalia. Volunteers have been walking neighborhoods, knocking on doors and visiting local bars and hangouts as they try to collect the 3,485 signatures they need to put the question before voters. Free Marijuana volunteers...

President Obama announced the bankruptcy of General Motors yesterday before GM's CEO even spoke, and the feds will soon own 60% of the company. But whatever you do, please don't think the government is now running GM. "What we are not doing -- what I have no interest in doing -- is running GM," Mr. Obama said in yesterday's bankruptcy announcement. "When a difficult decision has to be made on matters like where to open a new plant or what type of new car to make, the new GM, not the United States government, will make that decision." The President...

Frustrated liberals are asking why a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House can't manage to close the Guantanamo prison or keep new gun-rights laws from passing. After all, President Barack Obama pledged to shut down the military detention center on Cuba for suspected terrorists. And Democratic control of the government would suggest that any gun legislation leads to tighter controls on weapons, not expanded use. Even as they grouse, however, liberal lawmakers acknowledge that no one factor explains last week's disappointing back-to-back votes in Congress. The Obama administration is focused on other priorities, they say. Party leaders don't want to endanger...

Direct link to California Secretary of State tabular results of California initiatives.

Parade Magazine interview on 5/10/09 with Larry Burns, GM R&D chief: ... What about progress on electric cars and hydrogen-powered vehicles? The Chevrolet Volt—which comes out in 2010—goes 40 miles on a single battery charge. We're also testing 100 hydrogen fuel cell Chevrolet Equinoxes. The beauty about fuel cells is that they can be re-energized in five minutes and go 300 miles, whereas it takes eight hours to recharge a battery that goes 40 miles. Isn't hydrogen an infrastructure problem? No place to fill up? There are 170,000 service stations in the U.S. How many would have to provide hydrogen...

..... Now, the real question is, how will working with Fiat affect quality? Fiat reliability For those Americans who recall when Fiat cars were sold here, the brand made a less-than-stellar impression. Looking back at Consumer Reports reliability ratings from the late 1970s, Fiat models typically had more dreaded solid black blobs than most car shoppers would prefer. In particular, the Fiat 128 and 131 received a worse overall reliability rating for several years. Back then, Fiat was sometimes referred to as “Fix It Again, Tony.” A lot can happen in 30 years, but don’t get your hopes up. For...

***NEWS FLASH ***"Only Gravel is Truly Green"Washington(AP) -- In yet another Orwellian announcement today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs laid out the Obama Administration’s latest “green” proposal, namely, that grass lawns are no longer considered “green”. Gibbs emphasized that grass lawns consume enormous quantities of water, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides, with the latter three products being produced from carbon-based fossil fuels.When asked if this means that green grass is no longer “green”, Gibbs reluctantly acknowledged that, “Yes, green is no longer green.”  However, Gibbs pointed out that government scientists were working really really hard to create purple grass,...

***NEWS FLASH ***Washington (AP) In a surprise move today, the Obama Administration announced newly proposed rules that prohibit food from being grown in dirt because of the danger of salmonella contamination.Although alternative technologies don’t yet exist to replace dirt, and hundreds of millions people in the United States are likely to perish from starvation in the next few years, the Obama Administration said that a few people died last year from food contaminated with salmonella and that drastic action was therefore necessary to protect the American public from unsafe food. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs added that the...

WND YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK Congress bans incandescent bulbs Massive energy bill phases out Edison's invention by 2014 Posted: December 19, 2007 7:18 pm Eastern © 2009 WorldNetDaily.com Incandescent light bulb In addition to raising auto fuel efficiency standards 40 percent, an energy bill passed by Congress yesterday bans the incandescent light bulb by 2014. President Bush signed the 822-page measure into law today after it was sent up Pennsylvania Avenue in a Toyota Prius hybrid vehicle. The House passed the bill by a 314-100 vote after approval by the Senate last week. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of...

WASHINGTON -- A proposal to boost auto sales by offering government-funded discounts to consumers who trade in old cars for new, more efficient models got a boost Wednesday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But the proposal, which also is supported by Detroit auto makers and the United Auto Workers, is coming under fire from some foreign auto makers critical of a provision limiting the vouchers to vehicles built in North America. That limitation would exclude some of the most fuel-efficient cars and trucks sold in the U.S., including the Prius from Toyota Motor Corp. A bill introduced Tuesday by Rep....