Free Republic

In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me. Dean said the removal of the Medicare buy-in made the bill not worth supporting, and urged Dem leaders to start over with the process of reconciliation in the interview, which is set to air at 5:50 PM today on Vermont Public Radio, political reporter Bob Kinzel confirms to...

KABUL, Nov. 18, 2009 – Afghan and international forces killed several enemy militants and detained numerous terrorism suspects in Afghanistan today, military officials reported. A combined Afghan-international force detained a group of suspected militants in Zabul province while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for several attacks in the area. The force searched buildings on the west side of Qalat City where intelligence indicated militant activity and detained the suspected militants without incident. In a separate operation, a combined force killed several enemy militants in Khost province, including a Haqqani terrorist involved with attacks in the area. The force targeted a...

New York - The birthday boy was turning 6, and my own young son and I arrived at the celebration in our somewhat loose definition of party clothes: Timothy in his best bluejeans and a tiny button-down shirt with stripes the colors of popsicles. The party room was filled with balloons; parents drinking coffee; a stray baby sister or two; and a dozen little boys, more than half of whom were dressed in various pieces of camouflage sportswear. Together, they suggested a small army squad. For a moment, I thought I must have missed something in the invitation – that...

A harbor dredging operation carried out despite concerns from wildlife officials killed at least six loggerhead sea turtles in September - two in Savannah and four in Brunswick. The Army Corps of Engineers dredged the entrances to both the Savannah and Brunswick harbors for a total of 15 days using most of $6.8 million in federal stimulus funds meted out for the project.The corps usually avoids such summertime dredging precisely for the protection of turtles, Measures were taken to reduce the turtle death toll to the federal limit allowed for this particular dredging, a limit the corps successfully petitioned to...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2009 – Afghan and international forces killed and detained multiple suspected militants in operations to interdict Taliban activity in Afghanistan’s Zabul and Wardak provinces in recent days, military officials reported. A combined force was fired upon during a search today in the Bahar district of Zabul province in pursuit of a Taliban commander and his element believed to be responsible for attacks in the region. They returned fire, killing the militants, one of whom was found to be wearing a suicide vest. The combined force found and destroyed assault rifles, ammunition belts and communications gear found at...

WASHINGTON (AP) - While ceding some ground to President Obama on high-profile weapons cuts, lawmakers are cutting money for training and spare parts to pay for other weapons Obama doesn't want and their own pet projects. The push-and-pull is playing out within a massive, $626 billion funding bill for the Pentagon that is being debated on the Senate floor. All told, the bill denies Obama about $4 billion he sought for operations and maintenance accounts while providing $2.5 billion for C-17 cargo jets and $2.7 billion worth of pet projects sought by lawmakers.

Several groups on Facebook are dedicated to the demise of George W. Bush. Most of the dozen or so groups dedicated to killing him however, have only a few followers, but some of them have become quite popular. For example there is a group named "We all Want To Kill George Bush" with 429 members, and LETS KILL BUSH WITH SHOES has 484 members. The optimistic leader of the group "I bet that I can find 1000000 people who wanted to kill Bush" has fallen short with 518 members.

The Energy Department fired back at a Spanish university study that found government subsidies to support renewable energy development in that country actually cost jobs. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory said the report from King Juan Carlos University in Madrid uses flawed methodologies and fails to account for the export potential of new green technologies and other positive economic impacts of government renewable-energy subsidies. “The primary conclusion made by the authors — policy support of renewable energy results in net jobs losses — is not supported by their work,” the NREL concludes in a response released last month. The debate...

Health care that will kill usBy John Browne Sunday, August 9, 2009 The president's new health plan has garnered much criticism, as has his handling of the economy. Until relatively recently, America had an economy, currency and health system that was the envy of the world. Today, the economy and currency look sick. There is an urgent need to curb entitlement spending and boost infrastructure spending to lift the economy and strengthen the currency. But the president appears intent upon a course that will boost entitlement spending at the expense of investment in infrastructure. Much of it will be spent...

Marketing operations don't get any slicker than the one behind AARP. Their invitation to join arrived in my mail box even before I turned 50. I joined for one year, but never renewed because I knew the truth about this famous group. That truth is this: Millions join AARP and in return receive a host of useful services and resources. But their money and influence are hijacked to support causes that are absolutely inimical to their best interests. The hijacking is the work of AARP's Washington staff, which is an integral part of the tireless liberal lobbying machine that runs...

The odious term in the Mandatory End of Life Counseling section of the Health Care bill is 'palliative care'. 7 term 'advance care planning consultation' means a con 8 sultation between the individual and a practitioner de 9 scribed in paragraph (2) regarding advance care planning, 10 if, subject to paragraph (3), the individual involved has 11 not had such a consultation within the last 5 years. Such 12 consultation shall include the following: 4 An explanation by the practitioner of the 5 continuum of end-of-life services and supports avail 6 able, including --> palliative care <-- and hospice, and...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A state scientist says a bull shark caught and killed by two teenagers was pregnant with multiple pups. The killing of the 9-foot shark off The St. Petersburg Pier has spurred controversy in the community about hunting declining species for sport. Brent Winner, an associate research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission who performed the necropsy on the shark, said sharks usually birth litters of up to 12 pups. Nineteen-year-old Joshua Lipert and 16-year-old Robert Korkoske displayed the shark in the back of their pickup truck on Wednesday after they spent two hours catching...

Sorry libs. Obama did not give the direct order to kill the Somali pirates. You'll have to wait another day for the cut-and-runner to earn his hero badge. Blackfive has the real story: I just finished listening to the press conference w/ ADM Gortney about the rescue of Captain Phillips. At the time it happened the USS Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat to calmer waters as the sea state was deteriorating. One of the pirates was on board the Bainbridge as the talks about obtaining Phillip's release continued. The lifeboat was approx. 25 m behind the Bainbridge when snipers on...

We've lived in our current home for something like 14 years. I've never been a yard freak. I think I mowed my lawn once last year. I had to recently pull up several small trees from the front yard that sprouted. But this year hope springs eternal. I want to really make my yard great. However there's one thing I'm worried about: moles. I'm pretty sure there's an entire city of moles living under my grass. They've been there quite a while and they're fat, dumb and happy. I want to bring pain to their world. What is THE best...

A professor from Kuwait, the country liberated from Saddam Hussein's attack squads by the United States in the first Gulf War, has outlined on Arab television a potential terror attack that would involve smuggling anthrax from Mexico into the U.S. and killing 330,000 people in 60 minutes.

(IsraelNN.com) Terrorists attacked outside an historic mosque in Cairo Sunday evening, killing at least four people and wounding approximately 17 others, including French and German tourists. Police have not identified the explosive device, but it may have been a hand grenade or homemade device, police said. No terrorist group has yet taken responsibility for the attack. Sappers neutralized a second explosive device in the crowded bazaar area. The Egyptian tourist minister denied that anyone died in the blast, but major foreign news services reported that a French woman was among those killed. Eleven French and three German tourists suffered injuries,...

There are a lot of good threads about this topic (see below) and I wouldn't want to step on their great comments, but this is not just about seniors. This is about every person of any age with a life threatening illness. If you are a thirty year old woman and you develop a non-chemo sensitive tumor and have the genes that predispose you to breast cancer your life expectancy with treatment is only about 30% over 5 years. YOU WOULDN’T QUALIFY FOR TREATMENT BECAUSE OF THE COST VS LIFE EXPECTANCY RATIO THE BOARD WILL USE. And who is going...

There can be little doubt that Barack Obama's promise to fix the U.S. health care system was an important ingredient in his recent triumph over John McCain. However, while a majority of voters obviously favor some sort of reform, it isn't at all clear that they understand what the President-elect and his health advisors have planned for them. Indeed, a recent Zogby poll suggests that the President-elect's supporters have managed to remain remarkably innocent about his history and proposals.

Boone and Crockett Club Confirms New World's Record Elk MISSOULA, Mont.—Perhaps the largest elk ever produced in the wild—a Utah bull taken in 2008 by a hunter on public land—has been confirmed as a new World's Record. The official declaration was made today by the Boone and Crockett Club. A Special Judges Panel determined a final score of 478-5/8 Boone and Crockett non-typical points, an incredible 93 inches above the B&C minimum score of 385 for non-typical American elk and 13-plus inches larger than the previous World’s Record. With official data dating back to 1830, at 499-3/8 inches it is...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 29, 2008 – Coalition forces killed two armed Taliban militants while targeting the network’s kidnapping and roadside-bombing operations in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province yesterday, military officials reported. In the province’s Gailan district, coalition forces targeted a Taliban militant known to coordinate and carry out the kidnappings of Afghan officials and westerners to finance their criminal activities. The targeted Taliban militant also is believed to facilitate and direct roadside bombings along Highway One in Ghazni and Zabul provinces, deliberately killing and injuring innocent civilians and coalition forces, officials said. After coalition forces called for everyone inside to leave the...