Free Republic

So the seemingly unexplainable happened yesterday, the US Supreme Court upheld Obamacare. Republicans have promised an immediate repeal should they sweep the elections come November, but that's not a slam dunk. It should be, but we know their track record. If the Republicans don't sweep both Houses of Congress and the White House (including enough votes to avoid a fillibuster in the Senate), what happens next? What can we expect to see with the implementation of this law? Little things, big things...describe it here. I think that new identification will be coming down the road ASAP. This won't be in...

A U.S. nuclear submarine came within feet of running aground as it left Plymouth naval base, a report has found. The drama unfolded as the USS Minneapolis-St Paul entered rough seas and tried to take evasive action resulting in five crewmen being swept overboard, two of whom died. Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins and Petty Officer Michael Holtz were attached to the submarine with safety lines and had been helping the habour pilot to disembark when the submarine changed direction. They died as they were repeatedly pounded 'like rag dolls' The 2007 Royal Navy report into the incident, released this...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A lot of politicians are weighing in with demands before they'll support raising the debt ceiling. Most of their conditions are related to debt, such as put in place a debt reduction plan or cut spending. But some conditions can't even claim to be third cousins once removed. Punish union defenders. Drill, baby drill. Revolutionize federal regulation.

Greetings, fellow Freepers...my 10 year-old has recently taken up a musical instrument, the saxophone. She's interested, and although there's an obviously long road ahead, I was hoping to collect some examples of the saxophone to get her some additional exposure to the sound. Looking for musically-inclined to assist with a brain-storming list. Obviously, I'd like to hear examples of jazz or blues, but I'd like to include rock, pop, and even orchestral genres as well. What songs or artists would you suggest as a good example of saxophone play?

Fellow Hoosiers: I submit this post on behalf of a friend of my family, who works for Sallie Mae, here in Indianapolis. I am asking for your thoughtful consideration in this matter, and if you agree with what's presented in the proposal on the http://www.protectindianajobs.com website, to please sign the electronic petition. The issue is this. There is legislation before the U.S. Senate right now, that would make all student loans government-run. If this legislation is signed into law, Sallie Mae would be severly affected, and undoubtedly hundreds of jobs would be taken from this state. Let's stop this madness,...

China’s Worthless Stooges By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom August 9, 2007Below Beijing’s leadership, who runs China’s sprawling bureaucracy? The cadre of loyal communist worthless stooges.Yesterday The Washington Times published an article I wrote entitled “China: Less than the Whole Truth.” I pointed out that after more than seven months of bad news concerning Chinese food, drug and other product safety, the vice minister for the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in China said, “We can guarantee food safety.”Anyone who could read knew that not to be true: both in China and everywhere else in the world.In another...

China: Countdown To Olympics 2008 Has “Truth Harbingers Exposing Evil” By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom August 8, 2007Today marks one year from the official start of the Beijing Summer Olympics 2008. China started the 365 day countdown with a grand event in Tiananmen Square.International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge marked the start of the one-year countdown with a lavish Chinese-style ceremony that stared on the 8th day, of the 8th month at 8 PM and 8 minutes 8 seconds.Eight is a lucky number in China.But Tiananmen Square has not been lucky in China, especially for those seeking democratic...

China: At Long Last Admits Food Safety Clean Up Will Be “Arduous,” Long Term By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom August 5, 2007With a public relations scandal looming if not already roiling for China on June 12, 2007, Li Dongsheng, the Vice Minister for the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in China, told reporters in China that China had developed “very good, very complete methods” to regulate product safety.“We can guarantee food safety,” Vice Minister Li Dongsheng concluded.China demonstrated, by that statement and many similar denials and public announcements, that it “didn’t get it.” China doesn’t know what...

Senate Panel Indicates Readiness to “Squeeze China” Over Currency “A country builds its military strength on the back of its economic development.  The West has dealt China a hand with all aces.”By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom July 27, 2007On the eve of a landmark visit to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the U.S. Senate’s Finance Committee voted 20-1 to force China to raise the value of its currency.The Bush Administration opposes the legislation.But that is no matter.The president is weak, with some of the lowest approval ratings for any president, and the 20-1 committee vote indicates that...

China: No More Mister Nice Guy By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom July 26, 2007On July 25, 2007, the International Monetary Fund released its 2007 projections. Those numbers indicate that China, this year for the first time, has dislodged the United States from its long reign as the main engine of global economic growth, with its more than 11 percent growth eclipsing sputtering U.S. growth of about 2 percent.That same day, China accused the United States of deliberately misleading the public after the US military said it had found Chinese-made missiles in Iraq that were probably smuggled in from Iran.China...

Lingo of Failure: How to Decode Washington Political Speak By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom The discussion of the war in Iraq has created or modified its own vocabulary, especially in the halls of Congress.Below is our attempt at an easy to use pocket dictionary to help navigate the verbology being used today. THIS IS AN UNFINISHED WORK!  We need your input by comment to the blog or website you are reading or by email to:jecarey2603@cox.net Redeploy: (verb) To reduce troops in one area in order to move them to another area. Usually connotes moving troops from combat to the rear. See: Murtha,...

“Pet Prowess” in America; Michael Vick to Coach at University of Beijing John E. Carey July 20, 2007Is America a great nation, or what?There are many measures that could lead a person to answer this question with a resounding yes: the numbers of people with private home ownership, the civil right we enjoy, our economic might, our intellectual and high-tech innovation, and others.I’m using “pet prowess.”No other nation in the world has the “pet prowess” of the United States of America. What is “pet prowess”? It’s my own term to view the number of pampered pets in America, the amount...

Health and Public Policy: Older Auto Drivers Safer Than You Think By John E. Carey July 19, 2007Let’s talk about older automobile drivers. Maybe it’s your Mom or Dad or Uncle Sam that shows signs of driving too slowly, running into things or having other difficulties handling a car.What do you do and what are your responsibilities?I’ve faced this dilemma three or four times already and here’s what experts say.Researchers at the Rand Institute for Social Justice found during a recent study a few interesting facts.–Young drivers between 15 and 24 years old are three times as likely to cause car...

China Planning a Surreal Facade for Summer Olympic Games: Beijing 2008 By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom July 9, 2007Few could have anticipated the run of bad publicity, crises and scandals that China has weathered since about last winter or spring. First, pets in America became sick and many died. The illness was traced to Chinese-made pet food laced with a fertilizer component named melamine. Companies in China had illegally added melamine to wheat gluten and rice protein in a bid to meet the contractual demand for the amount of protein in the pet food products.After that, the Food and...

American Culture on the 4th of July By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom July 4, 2007I am never sure whether it is our American culture that shapes our TV, movies and other media or whether our media shapes our thinking to such an extent that it changes culture.Probably a little bit of both.What is culture? One very good online dictionary calls it “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population.”On July 4,...

Presidential Myopia: Leaders in Vietnam and China Only See What they Want to See By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom June 25, 2007Presidents are often accused of selective blindness. Hero of the U.S. Civil War General U.S. Grant became President of the United States and was considered by most men of his time, including Mark Twain who published the President’s memoirs, an honorable man. Yet Grant filled his government with corrupt and crooked men who almost destroyed him.In the last century, some leaders hailed Adolph Hitler during the 1930s for building an economic resurgence of miracle proportions in Germany. After...

Of two minds on Vietnam John E. Carey The Washington Times June 22, 2007Today, Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet will visit the United States. This is the first time a head of state from Vietnam has visited the U.S. since before the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975.President Triet is making the trip to reciprocate President Bush’s state visit to the communist-run country last November. While attending the Asia-Pacific summit in Hanoi, Mr. Bush told Mr. Triet to feel welcome to visit the U.S. The two presidents are expected to sign a trade agreement in the White House today.

China’s Policy Headaches: Potential Real Trouble Before the Summer Olympics By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom June 18, 2007China coveted and then won the opportunity to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. Now Hu Jintao and his communist government of China face a long series of hurdles they never quite anticipated: scandals and potential policy disasters that are being exposed by journalists eager to learn more about the People’s Republic of China. And they are looking over The Great Wall of China harder and longer than ever before.Surviving all the prying eyes of the international corps of journalists – every one...

China Killed Your Dog; Now You and Your Kids are at Risk Too Fixing a corrupt system with up to 800 million players?By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom June 14, 2007 On April 1 of this year I wrote a commentary essay under the headline “China Killed Your Dog.” I said at the time that the mainstream media seemed to be brushing this story under the carpet.The red meat of “China Killed Your Dog” is this: Chinese food manufacturers use all kinds of inexpensive products as filler and other agents in things like pet food, soy sauce, toothpaste and chewing gum.And they...

China Faces Crisis of Credibility Before Olympics By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom June 13, 2007China has a crisis on its hands. With less than a year to the final run up to the Beijing Games next summer, Chinese pet food has killed American pets; Chinese toothpaste has been found to contain thinners that are poisonous; Chinese catfish are prohibited by Alabama and Mississippi because of high levels of antibiotics; a company in California has recalled “monkfish” from China because it is probably really puffer fish containing the toxin chemical tetrodotoxin.On Tuesday, June 12, 2007, China’s number two envoy in...