Free Republic

Senate budget rules are giving opponents of the rollback of the 2010 health care law an easy way to attack Republicans for hypocrisy. Senate GOP may not really want to immunize their own member and staff health plans from their health care policy changes, but because they are seeking to bring their bill to the floor under the expedited budget reconciliation process, they have little choice. Sen. Ted Cruz has already unveiled a fix to nullify the exemption, but that bill would take 60 votes to overcome any filibuster attempts. “While this exemption was included in the Senate health care...

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea's ruling communist party said Saturday it would convene a meeting of party representatives in September to elect new leaders, Pyongyang's official media reported. The session would be "for electing its (the party's) highest leading body," said an announcement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It will be only the third such meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since the communist state was founded in 1948 and would likely designate leader Kim Jong-Il's son as his political heir, an analyst said. "The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee decides...

Thai court disbands ruling party By Nopporn Wong-Anan Nopporn Wong-anan 7 mins ago BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was banned from politics for five years and his party disbanded on Tuesday, plunging the country deeper into chaos and raising fears of a violent backlash by government supporters. Party members vowed to "move on" and form another government early next month. "We will all move to a new party, Puea Thai, and seek a vote for a new prime minister on December 8," Jatuporn Prompan, a PPP member of parliament, told Reuters. The Constitutional Court also disbanded two...

Popularity of South Korea's ruling party nosedives 1 hour, 36 minutes ago The popularity of South Korea's ruling Uri party has fallen to an all-time low of 8.8 percent, a news report has said. A survey sponsored by two Internet firms showed strong support for the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) of 44.3 percent, the Korea Times reported. The minor opposition Democratic Party won 8.5 percent while the leftist Democratic Labor Party took 8.4 percent, according to the survey conducted on November 22, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent. Uri secured its highest approval...

Choeng Wa Dae Official Confesses to Killing Wife A public service officer working at Cheong Wa Dae has strangled his wife, a public information officer for the Uri Party, to death, Seoul Dongdaemun police said Friday. Police said the suspect confessed to the crime and will be indicted for murder once his motive has been established. According to the police, the woman was found dead in a car parked in a neighborhood in Jeonnong-dong, Seoul on Friday morning. Police suspected murder because there were signs of strangulation around her neck. The body was found by a traffic warden. Police quoted...