Free Republic

<p>House Republicans say a key issue to their support of the final Medicare prescription-drug bill is the creation of health savings accounts for individuals.</p> <p>The House attached to its Medicare prescription-drug bill a separate proposal that would create private tax-free accounts individuals could use to save for their health costs, but it isn't included in the Senate version.</p>

Signing any health bill Robert Novak WASHINGTON -- As Congress reconvenes this week, conservatives are pushing a scenario that makes the best of inevitable prescription drug subsidies: The Senate-House conference would retain the House bill's market elements. That would collapse the Senate's big bipartisan majority, perhaps producing a 50-50 tie to be broken by Vice President Dick Cheney. There may be, however, a surprising obstacle: George W. Bush. The White House has made clear the president will sign any prescription drug bill arriving from Capitol Hill. Bush thereby has removed himself as a player in an epochal battle over this...

<p>The House yesterday passed, on a 425-2 vote, a bill that will spend $29.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, while Democrats complained that the amount fell "dangerously short" of protecting the nation from terrorist attacks.</p> <p>Rep. Harold Rogers, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, lauded the "largest reorganization of the federal government in 50 years" and insisted that the government was doing all it could to fight terrorism.</p>

Hiding Behind the FlagGOP Assaults on Privacy Drives More Wealth Offshore! by John Gaver May 18, 2003   "The Executive Orders, regulations, and laws enacted over the past year in the name of “anti-terrorism” constitute the greatest single governmental assault on personal and financial privacy in American history.  But there are safe, legal...indeed, wise...steps you can take to grow your wealth and better protect your assets and privacy overseas and offshore."So begins a recent promotion that I received, advertising an exclusive series of private seminars on international real estate, tax law, banking, and investment, aimed at the wealthy and very...

Monday, March 17, 2003 Judge: 'Dirty Bomber' Can See LawyersBy Patricia Hurtado Staff WriterMarch 11, 2003, 1:48 PM EST Jose Padilla (AP File Photo) A federal judge in Manhattan has again rejected a government's request to ban an American ex-con charged with conspiring with al-Qaida in a dirty bomb plot from meeting with his lawyers.U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey had previously ruled in December that Jose Padilla, designated an "enemy combatant" by the government, does have a right to meet with the court-appointed lawyers....At January's hearing, Mukasey assailed government lawyers for resisting his order.