Free Republic

Contractors who helped develop the embattled Obamacare website blame each other and the government, but not themselves, in testimony prepared for Thursday's first congressional hearing on the problems engulfing the online enrollment system. House Energy and Commerce Committee members will grill officials from CGI Federal, Optum/QSSI, Equifax Workforce Solutions and Serco at the hearing to examine technological snafus faced by people trying to obtain health insurance under President Barack Obama's signature reforms.

MEXICO CITY — An immigration study partly funded by the Mexican government recommended Friday that Mexico bar its citizens from the most dangerous illegal border crossings. The recommendations from the joint report by U.S. and Mexican immigration experts run counter to Mexico's long-standing claim that it cannot prevent its own citizens from massing at the border, because the constitution guarantees freedom of movement. But Assistant Foreign Relations Secretary Geronimo Gutierrez said his country was willing to consider the recommendation that "restricted access zones should be established in dangerous areas." "It's no secret this topic has been taboo in Mexican politics,"...

[Mel Gilles, who has worked for many years as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, draws some parallels between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to the election.-- Mathew Gross] Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing...

The worldwide decline in frogs and other amphibians has been well documented, though the reasons for it are less clear. Scientists have suggested many possible factors, including climate change, disease and increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation and pesticides. But for some species, a major reason could simply be that they are being eaten — by predators introduced into their habitat. A researcher at the University of California at Berkeley has shown this to be the case for a frog in the Sierra Nevadas. The researcher, Dr. Vance T. Vredenburg of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the university, demonstrated...