Free Republic

AMERICANS seem to like the idea of broadening health insurance coverage, but they may not want to be forced to buy it. With health care costs high and rising, such government mandates would make many people worse off. The proposals now before Congress would require just about everyone to buy health insurance or to get it through their employers — which would generally result in lower wages. In other words, millions of people would be compelled to spend lots of money on something they previously did not want, at least not at prevailing prices. Estimates of this burden vary, but...

A teleprompt blunder has led to Barack Obama thanking himself in a speech at the White House in a St Patrick's Day celebration. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address in Washington when he realised it all sounded a bit too familiar. It was. He was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just read from the same teleprompter. Mr Cowen stopped, turned to the president and said: "That's your speech." A laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium to take over but it seems the script had finally been switched and the US...

[video] “The president embarrassed America and showed the world just how stupid he really is last night.” That’s how the media would have reported last night’s White House screw-up if President Bush were still in office. But we doubt that President Obama will receive the same harsh treatment. Here’s what happened: Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was giving a speech when he realized he was repeating the same words President Obama had just read from the same teleprompter. Cowen stopped, turned to the president and said, “That’s your speech.” Obama laughed. Oh, how he laughed. It was the laugh of...