Free Republic

Ever since Obama started chastising the GOP for not coming up with "new" ideas, I've been wondering what "new" ideas could be originating from his administration... 10. Point out how our trillion dollar deficits meet the goal of avoiding gazillion dollar deficits. 9. Hire the first official White House chiropractor under the code name, "Dr. Obowma." 8. Make it crystal clear that the president TOTALLY opposes gay marriage....except in cases where the participants are straight (or gay)...seriously though...yuck... ;-D 7. Muslim outreach will include NASA putting Mars on hold until the president knows the effects of zero gravity on...

Israeli groups mull sailing toward Turkey to "remind the world of Turkish hypocrisy." Although most of the recent talk regarding flotillas has revolved around ships sailing toward Gaza, at least two plans have emerged for “reverse flotillas” – from Israel toward Turkey – to highlight what organizers have labeled the Turks’ “shameless hypocrisy” in their criticisms of the Jewish state.

Hillary Clinton did it and it worked for her when she ran for the Senate in New York, so now Republicans will give it a go. It's the listening tour, except unlike Hillary, who traveled from town to town, Republicans plan to stay in one place and invite you to come to them. House Republicans announced on Tuesday a new Website (www.americaspeakingout.com). It invites people to submit their ideas in five categories: American prosperity, fiscal accountability, American values, national security and an "open mic" section on which you can recommend anything not covered by the other four. I do not...

Think tank analysts usually brim with pride when the president of the United States goes around claiming that his policies are based on their work. But when President Obama tries to sell his health-care law as a moderate approach that borrows ideas developed by the Heritage Foundation, we get incensed. The Obama health-care law "builds" on the Heritage health reform model only in the sense that, say, a double-quarter-pounder with cheese "builds" on the idea of a garden salad. Both have lettuce and tomato and may be called food, but the similarities end there. This is why we at the...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Tuesday he was open to four new Republican proposals on health care legislation, in a gesture of bipartisanship meant to jump-start his stalled overhaul drive. Obama detailed the ideas, all of which were raised at a bipartisan health care summit last week, in a letter to congressional leaders. He also called for eliminating a special deal for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in Florida and other states that drew criticism at the summit from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The proposals Obama mentioned are: sending investigators disguised as patients to uncover fraud and waste; expanding medical malpractice...

Been thinking about what I'd put together as a conservative, if I had to correct things in our current healthcare system. Number of things come to mind, none of which Pelosi or Reid or any of the dems come to grips with. Further making me feel confident I'm on the right track. 1. Health Insurance strongly encouraged to buy, not forced. Strongly encouraged because the alternative is paying for 100% of your catastrophic emergency medical costs, asset forfeiture if necessary. This means coming after any form of wealth you've got to pay your debts. Going after 401k's, going after IRAs,...

Okay, let's brainstorm some great ideas for Tea Party commericals and online ads.

That the Republican party has been flailing since the 2006 midterm elections is pretty hard to deny. At this point, sorting out what is wrong with the GOP is the political equivalent of cleaning out the Augean Stables, and there’s no shortage of people willing to grab a shovel. But of all the horse, er, puckey that’s been flung, perhaps the most baffling is the narrative that the GOP is so bereft of ideas it is not to be taken seriously. The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder, who’s not known for being a partisan bomb thrower, appeared to be vying for the...

In the New York Times magazine, Matt Bai has an interesting profile of Newt Gingrich and his attempts to repair the GOP's malfunctioning idea factory. Here's the most interesting selection from my point of view: Gingrich is all about offering, as he puts it, a “better value” for the American customer — constructive solutions Republicans can take on the road during the next midterm election season and beyond. “Most Republicans are not entrepreneurial,” he lamented to me. “They’re corporatists. They like the security and the comfort of a well-thought-out, highly boring boardroom meeting in which they do a PowerPoint once....

Worst Ideas of the WeekBy Examiner Editorial Staff - 1/25/09 From Gitmo with hate1| Former detainee returns to terrorism The details: President Obama’s order to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee center within a year looks questionable in light of this: Said Ali al-Shihri, a former Gitmo detainee, is now the deputy leader of Al-qaida’s branch in Yemen. Some 60 other former detainees likewise have rejoined terrorist groups. Frankly unethical2| House chairman interferes with bailout The details: Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, snuck a provision into the bank bailout to help a local Boston bank that otherwise would...

This thread, is the result an offhand prompt from Rummy Chick, in a post about 10 days ago. If it has been posted before, I shall happily request it's removal : P I actually signed on over there, to support the freedom to buy and consume whatever kind of food I want to... Sad, ain’t it, that we have come to this? And I figured the termites in the woodwork angle, wasn’t a bad idea either. The old, hold your friends close, and your enemies closer ; ) It is definitely worth a look, although, the site is slower than...

Last week President-elect Barack Obama was asked to respond to critics who say that his stimulus plan won’t do enough to help the economy. Mr. Obama answered that he wants to hear ideas about “how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy.” O.K., I’ll bite — although as I’ll explain shortly, the “jump-start” metaphor is part of the problem. First, Mr. Obama should scrap his proposal for $150 billion in business tax cuts, which would do little to help the economy. Ideally he’d scrap the proposed $150 billion payroll tax cut as well, though I’m aware that...

The Dimmest Bulb of 2008: Vice-President-elect - Joe Biden There are a lot of reasons why congressional reporters long ago nicknamed the Delaware Democrat as "Senator Gaffe." His performance as Barack Obama's vice presidential nominee demonstrated yet again that Biden is a truly gifted goof. Here's Biden's top five goofs, as rated by About.com's Daniel Kurtzma: 5. "Look, Jon's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the No.1 job facing the middle-class, and it happens to be, as Barak says, a three letter word: jobs, J-O-B-S, jobs." 4. "A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will...

The impacts of climate change are a hot topic among scientists and environmental activists. Now the Bay Conservation and Development Commission wants to hear from another perspective: the design community. The state agency is preparing to launch a $125,000 competition that will invite architects, planners and engineers to bring innovative proposals "to climate-proof the Bay Area," in the words of the competition outline. The aim isn't to stop climate change from happening, say officials, or to build impregnable levees. The goal is to get designers thinking creatively about how to prepare for a world where the sea level might climb...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2008 – Whether you are a young soldier leaving boot camp for a tour in Germany or a seasoned military police officer working in Iraq, receiving a care package from home can be a huge pick-me-up. A Web site launched in September provides many ideas to families and friends wanting to send care packages to love ones stationed abroad. Abby Tymchak of Wayne, N.J., was inspired to create the site, called “The Soldiers Family,” when she found out her husband, Army Sgt. Scott Kowalski, was being deployed overseas for at least a year. Initially, she said,...

McCain Speaks, DOW Rises The DOW was down over -800 points until John McCain started his hard-hitting speech today attacking Barack Obama on everything from his Palestinian campaign contributions, the economy, to Fannie and Freddie. The DOW ended down -334.91, which is very bad but certainly not as bad as -800. I thought the financial situation was supposed to be saved by the $850+ billion bailout that just had to pass last week? Now we are hearing that the bailout was just the beginning, that there will be at least two, maybe three, more bailouts. From the New York Times,...

ST. PETE’S BEACH, Fla., Aug. 19, 2008 – Scientists and battlefield medical clinicians shared their knowledge and experiences to advance medicine during the military’s premier trauma care conference here. The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s annual Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Conference was held Aug. 11 to 15. What evolved from a disjointed vendor-oriented conference more than 10 years ago with just a couple hundred participants is now an extremely relevant knowledge exchange that has the ability to improve military medicine, said Army Col. Bob Vandre, a former MRMC Combat Casualty Care Program director who organized...

The Democratic National Committee is asking America to weigh in on its party platform, and this week kicks off more than 1,300 meetings to hear from voters across the country on the big question: What should Democrats stand for - and against? If the idea sounds politically challenging, or even risky - think Rush Limbaugh and his dittoheads weighing in - San Francisco attorney Michael Yaki, who heads the party's platform committee, says not to worry. In fact, he's even invited Limbaugh and his dittoheads to come on down and take part in the meetings that will happen around the...

An intellectual is someone who thinks ideas matter more than people. If people get in the way of ideas they must be swept aside and, if necessary, put in concentration camps or killed. To intellectuals, individuals as such are not interesting and do not matter. Indeed individualism is a hindrance to the pursuit of ideals in an absolute sense. The individual, with his quirks and quiddities, his mixture of good and bad, intelligence and stupidity, longing for justice but anxiety to promote his own selfish interests, does not fit into a utopian community. Hence utopians, if they are in earnest,...

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know.......many folks are still covered in snow others are facing other horrendous weather issues. They are all in our thoughts and prayers. HOWEVER - at 1:26 Eastern this afternoon Spring officially begins. Trying to find articles about the first day of spring was practically an impossibility. Oh sure, there were some out there but most of them were real downers, so I decided today might be a great share some of our favorite gardening websites. The categories of gardening and seed catalogs on my favorites list are both as long as my arm, but I grabbed...