Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE -- Calling it a "broken system" that is straining the state budget, Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday proposed a massive overhaul of Florida's Medicaid program to make it more like private health insurance. The proposal, which will be a key issue during this spring's legislative session, would lead to hundreds of thousands of low-income people receiving medical care through health-maintenance organizations, insurance companies and other private organizations. Medicaid patients would be able to choose from different health plans, with the state paying their premiums. Bush said the proposal would help control spending on the program, which has soared in...

WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush is expected to propose what amounts to a freeze in spending in programs outside national security in a bid to show he is serious about meeting his goal to reduce the deficit, congressional aides and budget experts said on Thursday. White House officials said final decisions on Bush's fiscal 2006 budget have yet to be made. They said those decisions would determine the budget numbers. Congressional aides and budget experts said the White House intends to hold non-defense, non-homeland security discretionary spending within a narrow range that amounts to a freeze...

I'd just like to hear some feedback about that strange electoral vote cast for Edwards in Minnesota. Is this a presidential predictor? After all, a Washington elector in 1976 voted for Reagan, and we know what happened in 1980.

WASHINGTON -- The government gave more than $1 billion in 2003 to organizations it considers "faith-based," with some going to programs where prayer and spiritual guidance are central and some to organizations that do not consider themselves religious at all. Many of these groups have entirely secular missions and some organizations were surprised to find their names on a list of faith-based groups provided to The Associated Press by the White House. "Someone has obviously designated us a faith-based organization, but we don't recognize ourselves as that," said Stacey Denaux, executive director of Crisis Ministries, a homeless shelter and soup...

Helena, Mont. A divided Montana Supreme Court declared yesterday that the state constitution's guarantee of equal protection extends to gays, and ruled that the state university system must offer same-sex couples the same health benefits available to heterosexual ones. In a 4-3 decision, the justices struck down the university's policy of denying benefits to employees' gay partners. The high court said the policy violates the Montana Constitution's guarantee of equal protection because unmarried heterosexual partners could receive the benefit by signing a common-law marriage affidavit, while unmarried gay partners could not. The ruling, which reversed a 2002 lower-court decision, did...

Animal rights group's McWin AFPJanuary 01, 2005 CHICAGO: McDonald's is considering forcing its chicken suppliers to use a new, more humane slaughter method following a proposal by an animal rights group that holds McDonald's shares. The company is doing a feasibility study into requiring suppliers to switch to controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), a technique championed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "This is a study we've been working on for a while," McDonald's director of social responsibility Bob Langert said. "It's a fairly new method ... there is some use of it in Europe, but not yet in North...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada said on Thursday it had discovered a suspected case of mad cow disease, but said the 10-year-old animal in question had not entered the human or animal feed system. The test is still preliminary, and final results will be ready in three to five days, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a statement. Ottawa announced the news one day after Washington said it planned to lift a ban on imports of young live Canadian cattle. The United States imposed the ban after a previous case of mad cow disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), was...

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Serial killer Michael Ross, at times crying, testified Tuesday that he believes he deserves to live, but doesn't want to pursue any more appeals of his death sentence because of the pain it would cause his victims' families. "I understand why they hurt," Ross said. "I've been trying for 10 years to stop this. Hopefully in 28 days I'll be able to stop it, and that's my goal."

Clark County canvassing board to consider counting 24 votes Tuesday, December 28, 2004 By DON JENKINS, Columbian staff writer The Clark County canvassing board will meet today to consider a request by the Republican Party to count two dozen invalidated ballots, all presumably containing votes for GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi. "The (state) Supreme Court opened up the recounting of ballots in King County more than a month after the election," Clark County GOP Chairman Brent Boger said Monday. Immediately after the manual count turned against Rossi last week, Republicans asked canvassing boards around the state to reconsider hundreds of...

Lesbian says she's happy with city's fine over discrimination complaint DANIEL YEE Associated Press ATLANTA - The woman who filed a complaint against an Atlanta country club that refused to extend spousal benefits to her domestic partner said the city's fine against the Druid Hills Golf Club sends out a strong anti-discrimination message. Mayor Shirley Franklin's decision to fine the club up to $90,000 for violating the city's human rights ordinance came as a "pleasant surprise," said Lee Kyser, one of the club's two gay members who filed complaints with the city in January challenging the club's policy. It is...

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China on Tuesday expressed "respect" to the latest Ukraine's presidential election result. "China and Ukraine are friendly countries. We have noticed the result of the second round of Ukraine's presidential election announced by the Ukrainian Central Election Commission. China respects Ukrainian people's choice," Chines Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Liu Jianchao said at a regular press briefing. The presidential run-off between Ukraine's presidential candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko began on Sunday with 32,118 polling stations opening at 8:00 am (0600GMT). With 99.9 percent of the vote counted Yushchenko had secured...

Europe's top election watchdog said Monday that Uzbekistan's parliamentary election fell far short of democratic standards. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sent a 21-member election observation team to...

America Online Reports Drop in Spam By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: December 28, 2004 America Online said yesterday that spammers were starting to give up - at least when it came to sending junk to its subscribers. The total number of e-mail messages destined for members averaged 1.6 billion in November a day, down from 2.1 billion daily a year earlier, the company said. The drop was almost entirely in spam, AOL said. A company spokesman, Nicholas Graham, attributed the drop largely to spammers moving on after realizing that many of their messages would not get through AOL's antispam filters...

In order to avoid a possible crushing blow in 2008, we must oust Hillary in 2006. The Beast must fall before the Armaggedon can occur. How? Guiliani runs for Senate in 2006 against Hillary and crushes her. New York has such a fondness for Guiliani that Hillary would have a heck of a hard time beating him. Thus, Hillary would have much less of a chance running in 2008, and thus giving the Democrats probably 2004 all over again: a fill-in candidate that should have won but lost.

There are about a dozen plus Republicans in the possibilities for 2008. But if we just limit it to two key front-runners, Frist and Guiliani, who would you go for? Even though McCain or Jeb (although he said he would not run)or Romney or Pataki or Allen are being shouted, this thread is assuming if it was only Frist and Guiliani.