Free Republic

Democrats dragged themselves over the health-care finish line in part by repeating that voters would like the plan once it passed. Let's see what they think when they learn their insurance costs will jump right away. Even before President Obama signed the bill on Tuesday, Caterpillar said it would cost the company at least $100 million more in the first year alone. Medical device maker Medtronic warned that new taxes on its products could force it to lay off a thousand workers. Now Verizon joins the roll of businesses staring at adverse consequences. In an email titled "President Obama Signs...

Emotions ran high at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival over the showing of Rachel, a film that looks at the International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie and her death in Gaza in March 2003. The controversy had been brewing for some time, concerning both the showing of the film and the invitation to Rachel's mother, Cindy Corrie, to speak at the festival. In the wake of protests against the showing of the film last Saturday, Peter Stein, the festival's executive director, invited Dr. Mike Harris, one of the leaders of the local Stand With Us chapter, to speak in...

PEORIA — Caterpillar Inc.’s woes have reached the company’s foundry in Mapleton, where nearly 200 employees — most of them production workers — will be laid off at end of the week. The company began informing the employees at the start of third shift Sunday night that the layoffs would be indefinite and begin Monday, April 13, said Rick Doty, president of United Auto Workers Local 974, which represents Caterpillar hourly workers in the Peoria area. Doty said these will be the first layoffs at Mapleton for Caterpillar’s own employees since the company began cutbacks last fall. Some contract workers...

EAST PEORIA, ILL. -- ..... Obama today repeated the claim .... that Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar, Inc., "said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.".... But after the president left the event, Owens said the exact opposite....

SEATTLE -- The parents of a 23-year-old who was killed trying to prevent the demolition of an occupied Palestinian home have appealed a judge's decision to dismiss their lawsuit against Caterpiller Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over her. "He applied the wrong legal standard and ignored the facts," said Maria LaHood, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. Rachel Corrie was killed three years ago by an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer. She was trying to stop him from demolishing a Gaza Strip home while the family was inside; though witnesses said she...

I dunno why but I got a hankering for pancakes this morning. A tall stack of thin flat flapjacks served with butter and syrup. And while I'm in the mood - I'm thining of buying stock in Catapillerr (CAT) Just seems like a good day for those activities.

Caterpillar projects $40 billion in sales and revenues and profit per share between $4.65 and $5.00 for 2006 and will place even greater emphasis on employee safety, product quality and product availability PEORIA, Ill., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT - News) effectively responded to unprecedented customer demand in 2005 and reports full-year sales and revenues of $36.339 billion and profit per share of $4.04. Sales and revenues rose 20 percent from 2004, and profit per share was up 40 percent -- both were records. Fourth-quarter sales and revenues of $9.663 billion and profit per share of $1.20...