Free Republic

Hear ye, hear ye: Be it known that 60% of American Legal Voters do seek, and with historical reason, do expect protection from their US Federal Government from the devastating harmful effects of the Democrat's cruel unfunded mandate of Obamacare; AND since no effective leadership in the US House of Representatives has existed to serve and protect 60 % of American voters from the Democrat's cruel unfunded mandate of Obamacare; AND since only US Senators Cruz of TEXAS and Lee of Utah have shown a consistent understanding of the great harm soon to be imposed, by the very rapid total...

Republican strategist Karl Rove says the GOP should quit while it's not as far behind as it could be. Appearing Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "On the Record," Rove said Republicans fighting for concessions on Obamacare and entitlements are weakening their position the longer they hold out. "At some point you have to focus on, as Ronald Reagan said, getting as much of the pie as you possibly can get," Rove said. Republicans aren't even going to be able to get 80 percent of what they want now, he said, because they have been weakened over the last two months...

".........I am tired of funding Republicans who campaign against Obamacare then refuse to fight. It’s time to find a new batch of Republicans to actually practice what the current crop preaches. The irony in all of this is that Obamacare’s individual mandate is going to be delayed. Just wait. Liberals are already whispering that it has to happen. They can’t get the computers up and running. People aren’t signing up. They whole process is broken. But they also do not want to cave in to the GOP. So they will wait. Barack Obama will wait for the GOP to surrender,...

(Reuters) - The death toll from a strong earthquake in the central Philippines has risen to almost 100, officials said on Wednesday, and rescuers were digging through the rubble of a church and a hospital in search of more victims. At least 10 people were missing under the collapsed public hospital, church and a home in the town of Loon on Bohol island, 630 km (390 miles) south of Manila, which bore the brunt of the 7.2 quake on Tuesday. The quake caused landslides and widespread damage to infrastructure in Bohol and nearby Cebu, with close to three million people...

First, some background: I've spent almost a decade in the healthcare insurance industry now, after departing my last job. I've •investigated fraudulent Medicaid and Medicare claims , personally having revoked some $113 milion worth, and disenrolled over 25,000 fraudlent Medicaid subscribers •Investigated fraud / waste / abuse trends in hospital and small clinic claims •Investigated and testified about waste and abuse in most electronic medical billing and diagnosis code platforms, as well as willful 'bundling' of unrelated and fraudlent charges by hospitals and clinics•Researched electronic eligibility and risk pool demographics and statistics in studying insurance rate increases and stabilizations •Worked...

(Reuters) - Chinese authorities in the northern city of Tianjin have punished 13 medical workers for taking bribes from Danone S.A. to recommend the French food maker's infant formula, the local government said on Monday. The move comes after the official China Central Television (CCTV) reported in September that Danone bribed doctors and nurses to recommend its Dumex milk powder brand at one Tianjin hospital. The CCTV report led to Tianjin's government and police launching an investigation into the bribery charges. Danone also said it had launched an investigation. The "serious violators" received penalties ranging from cancellation of medical licenses...

This failure of an option B has set the stage for Bohners end game, very much like what happened early this year with taxes.Reid Slams New House GOP Debt Limit Offer (Hissy fit) Roll Call ^ | 10/15/13 | Meredith Shiner House vote pulled, chaos continues Politico ^ | 10-15-13 | By JAKE SHERMAN, BURGESS EVERETT, JOHN BRESNAHAN and SEUNG Reid will pass his ‘bipartision’ bill using a procedure that only requires 50 votes but gutting a previously passed bill. That allows lots of GOP Senators cover to vote symbolically ‘no’ with no effect. Then that Bill goes to house...

A report by a private foundation on how the Obamacare website was designed reveals that cronyism and sheer incompetence is at fault for the spectacular failures of the rollout. InfoWorld summed it up: "It was built by people who are apparently far more familiar with government cronyism than they are with IT." ---------------- (snip) --------------- All the same, CGI Federal -- which received $88 million for its work since March of this year -- told Congress in September it was indeed ready for the onslaught of users that would come when Healthcare.gov opened to the public. The same was claimed...

If we think of the gigantic progress made by the "gay liberation" movement in just a few decades or even years, we are astonished. The idea of homomarriage would have been unthinkable 20-30 years ago when homosexuals themselves were declaring their opposition to this institution, and even 5 years ago it would have been difficult for it to become part of the UK law. It has required a social re-education programme of vast proportions, a cultural war for general sexual freedom, of which homosexual "liberation" is part. One method of crucial importance and psychological effectiveness employed by the homosexual...

On Tuesday, Mediaite White House correspondent Tommy Christopher added another chapter to his ongoing self-promotional crusade masquerading as a career in journalism. And this time, it didn’t involve a shameless ploy to be an invited guest on whatever incarnation of Chris Hayes’ show MSNBC is currently airing. During Tuesday’s White House briefing on Tuesday, Christopher, whose name isn’t really “Tommy Christopher,” asked a question about President Barack Obama’s health-care reform law that incorporated his personal experiences with health insurance after his 2010 heart attack. ...more (w/video)...

The most pitiful part of what’s happening right now isn’t the cave itself, which was predictable since day one of the quixotic “defund” effort, but the fact that they’re going to drag it out another day or two to the bitter end purely for theatrical purposes. There’s a 99 percent chance that Reid will reject whatever emerges tonight from the House, leaving Boehner to float a clean debt-ceiling hike tomorrow and let Pelosi and the Democrats bail him out, but in order to marginally reduce the upset among grassroots conservatives, he’s going to push this to the last possible moment....

"It seems that President Obama's paid political operatives are out in force today. And you know why? Because the men and women in this room scare the living daylights out of them," said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) after interruptions from activists calling for family unity through immigration reform. Jacqueline Garcia’s grandfather was the sole breadwinner for the family of four. Her parents were not in the picture. But her younger brother, her disabled grandmother, and Jackie were a tight-knit family and all depended on the grandfather. At 16, Jackie, a U.S. citizen, is an honor student in her Phoenix high...

“It is the Responsibility of the Patriot to protect his Country from its government.” (Thomas Paine). Where is it written that a Warrior going into battle with an evil enemy should be protected from the cheap verbal abuse of those he seeks to destroy? Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying: "The Pioneers get all the arrows." So too do our wimpy RINOs when they try to get off of their doormats and save America from an incompetent, spendaholic Administration. Do our Doormat RINO Politicians expect that the "Leftstream" Liberal Media will NOT inundate them with a continuous barrage of negative...

The House's latest plan to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown won't pass the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Tuesday. “It’s unproductive and a waste of time,” Reid said. “The House legislation will not pass the Senate.” Senate leaders are working on a deal that would end the shutdown, fund the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt ceiling until February. House Republicans met Tuesday morning to discuss preempting the Senate by passing their own plan to raise the debt ceiling and end the shutdown. The House bill would delay Obamacare's medical device...

The shortcomings of ObamaCare continue to seep into the light, putting the lie to virtually every claim made by Barack Hussein about his namesake “healthcare” scheme. But one part of the law remains as much a mystery now as when it was written. Section 1555 of the Affordable Care Act is quite short. It reads: “No individual, company, business, nonprofit entity, or health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall be required to participate in any Federal health insurance program created under this Act (or any amendments made by this Act), or in any Federal health insurance...

The White House appeared to reject a proposal by House Republicans Tuesday morning to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, calling the proposal "a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans." "The president has said repeatedly that Members of Congress don’t get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the nation’s bills," said White House spokesperson Amy Brundage. The White House also announced that the president and Vice President Biden would meet with House Democratic leaders at the White House at 3:15 Tuesday afternoon. Attendees will...

Over the weekend, Auburn University’s student body elected Molly Anne Dutton the school’s 100th Miss Homecoming, and boy what a story this young woman has to tell. A couple of decades ago, Dutton’s biological mother, who was living in California at the time, was the victim of a sexual assault that resulted in her becoming pregnant. She was given an ultimatum by her husband: either abort the baby, or face divorce. Lifeline Children’s Services, a Birmingham-based Christian adoption agency, got involved and helped the woman through her courageous decision to keep the baby and put her up for adoption instead...

Sen. Mark Pryor ((D-Ark.) said he expects the Senate and White House to announce a deal Tuesday that could pass the upper chamber by Wednesday. Pryor said he and a group of a dozen lawmakers drafted the framework — which Senate leadership based their deal on — with the intent of gaining as many as 80 votes to put pressure on the House to act. “It should have bipartisan support in the House,” he said. “And one of the goals we really set out in our group is we said look we don’t want 60 votes. We wan to get...

WASHINGTON, October 14 (RIA Novosti) – A US-funded laboratory in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, accused by a prominent Russian official Monday of developing biological weapons, has been repeatedly touted by US officials as a key tool in guarding the region against dangerous infectious diseases. “This laboratory has the potential to become a regional center for disease surveillance, research, as well as biosafety and security,” US Sen. Richard Lugar said in a speech last year at the christening of the laboratory that bears his name in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, several months before he retired from the Senate....

Coal, propelled by rising use in China and India, will surpass oil as the key fuel for the global economy by 2020 despite government efforts to reduce carbon emissions, energy consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie said on Monday. Global coal consumption is expected to rise by 25 percent by the end of the decade to 4,500 million tons of oil equivalent, overtaking oil at 4,400 million tons, according to Woodmac in a presentation at the World Energy Congress. The two Asian powerhouses will need the comparatively cheaper fuel to power their economies, while demand in the United States, Europe and the...

Got my surgery date today, in just 2 weeks. I am a bit scared by all this.

The Mighty Democrat Senator "No Debate" Reid has spoken though his use of raw Park Police Power by an incompetent, spendaholic, Democrat Administration: Release the floodgates of continuous increased Federal Spending or we will lower the BARRYCADE IRON CURTAIN until you cave in. In this way Reid and Obama have defined for America what continued control of the US Senate and the Administration will be like in the future. Each section of the BARRYCADE IRON CURTAIN is a visual testament to the abject failure of the Obama-Reid Adminstration and Senate. There should be no doubt, except for the true believers...

DUBAI/VIENNA -- Iran on Sunday rejected the West's demand to send sensitive nuclear material out of the country but signaled flexibility on other aspects of its atomic activities that worry world powers, ahead of renewed negotiations this week. Talks about Iran's nuclear program, due to start in Geneva on Tuesday, will be the first since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who has tried to improve relations with the West to pave a way for lifting economic sanctions. Rouhani's election in June to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised hopes of a negotiated solution to a decade-old dispute over Iran's...

NEW YORK – The radiation doses workers received in the initial phase of the Fukushima disaster may have underestimated by 20 percent, a report by a U.N. panel says. The U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said in a summary report on its website that the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., known as Tepco, used tests that failed to take into account some types of radiation released by the three meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011. The report said the committee analyzed the doses received by some 25,000 people working...

North Korea used political prisoners to test deadly chemical weapons and provided them to several countries in the Middle East, according to a U.S. report. The 38 North, a division of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, updated a report titled “North Korea’s Chemical Warfare Capabilities” on its Web site based on the author’s interviews with North Korean defectors and officials worldwide for the past 25 years. A defector, who identified himself by the pseudonym Kwon Kyok, said he worked as a security official at Detention Camp 22, where he saw healthy prisoners put inside...

In a harbor fish market in Jung District, Incheon, lights along the fish stalls were shining to attract customers Friday evening. In contrast to the mood created by the bright lights, there were hardly more than a dozen customers. “Just a few months ago, we had to keep the stall open well past midnight to accommodate,” says Jung Gyung-suk, a 57-year-old fishmonger who has run a stall for almost three decades. “All day long, I have had only three groups of customers, about 10 people,” said the somber-looking restaurant owner as she shuttered her stall at about 10 p.m. Jung...

Anchor babies turn to the US After Hong Kong banned so-called anchor babies last year, many Chinese nationals are now said to be turning to the US, which still offers birthright citizenship. Agencies have been promoting US birth programs which can cost perspective parents over 500-thousand yuan. So-called anchor babies are foreign nationals born in countries or regions which offer citizenship at birth. This then makes it easier for the parents to immigrate to the place their child has citizenship.

(Reuters) - South Korea should reduce its reliance on nuclear power in view of public discontent with corruption in the industry and Japan's difficulty tackling the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, a group weighing up the problem said on Sunday. The Energy Ministry published the findings of a study group of 60 representatives from industry, academic institutions and civic bodies that recommended reducing to between 22 percent and 29 percent the portion of electricity that can be generated by nuclear power. That compares to 41 percent proposed in a government plan for 2030. Asia's fourth-largest economy currently generates one third...

Rolling back the automatic budget cuts known as the "sequester" has emerged as a critical sticking point in the negotiations to reopen the government and avoid default. Democrats don't want to lock in 2014 government funding at the reduced level required by the sequester, but Republicans refuse to increase spending and say Democrats are overplaying their hand. “The dispute has been how to undo the sequester,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on "Face the Nation" on CBS on Sunday, explaining that Democrats want a mix of entitlement reforms and revenue increases. But Republican lawmakers on the Sunday talk shows vowed...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) suggested Sunday that Democrats would consider raising the debt limit with only 51 votes in the Senate. Democrats tried to pass a $1.1 trillion increase in the debt limit Saturday, but they failed to achieve the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. On "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace asked Manchin to explain Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) comment that Democrats have "several somethings" they can use as a back-up plan to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default. "I would assume that they might be referring to the so-called 'nuclear option,'" Manchin said. "If...

House Republicans, now seeking a way out of the current fiscal impasse, fear that the government shutdown robbed them of a chance to highlight the problems in ObamaCare's rollout. Oct. 1 should have been a layup for Republican opponents of President Obama’s signature healthcare law, who watched as new insurance exchanges were beset by a slew of technical snafus. But in a harsh bit of irony for the GOP, that was also the first day of a government shutdown driven largely by their own efforts to defund ObamaCare – a standstill that has dominated headlines all month. To make matters...

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) is seeking the center as he runs for Iowa’s open Senate seat. Braley stressed the need for compromise and bipartisanship in an interview in his Capitol Hill office on Thursday, emphasizing his friendships with Republicans. “Our job is to work together, solve tough problems,” Braley said. “The vast majority of Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives I believe share that [view] but we get locked into these positions that make it very difficult to maintain a conversation about how we can solve our differences. “I try to do that one member at a time...

First, apologies to my readers for the diversion from the usual fare, but I’ll point out that this entry is covered under the masthead in the category of “recent news” and there’s a relevant WUWT category. Since like many of you, I’ve been forced to sign a document (at my radio station where I employed part-time) a document that confirms I’ve been given another document that advises me of my Obamacare rights, and of course being in tune to the news, I’ve been wondering if the claims about the Obamacare websites are as bad as claimed. I read an article...

Back in 2008, when then-candidate Obama promised Joe the Plumber and the rest of America that he intended to spread the wealth around, most democrat and liberal voters embraced the notion of wealth redistribution under the guise of equality. A universal health care plan, that would be free for all Americans, was the promise from the candidate of hope and change. Tens of millions of Americans jumped on the bandwagon waving their flags, fainting at his appearances, and fawning over his every word. None ever thought about where the money would come from for all this new found wealth he...

For all the hoopla and cheering that the progressive liberals and the mainstream media have heaped upon the launching of Obamacare, the overall effect has been far more of a whimper than a bang. From the start, the website that American citizens had to use to sign up for this monstrosity was plagued with glitches and crashes. Very few people were actually able to log in and begin navigating the system to see how bad their choices would be. One interesting tidbit that has emerged is that by creating an account on the Healthcare.gov website, your computer hands over your...

Senate Republicans on Saturday blocked a bid by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to extend the nation’s debt limit until after the 2014 midterm elections. In an 53-45 vote, the Senate failed to win the 60 votes necessary to advance the debt-limit measure to a floor debate. The bill would increase the federal debt by an estimated $1.1 trillion. Every Democrat supported the measure, though Reid switched his vote at the end to preserve the right to bring the motion up for another vote later. Republicans criticized the legislation as politically transparent. Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) and two other...

The thrust of an October 10th article at PJ Media by its founding light, Roger L. Simon, is that Senator Cruz is destroying it. I disagree. Senator Cruz is doing his best to save what little is left of the Republican Party. It may be a lost cause This has worked so well for Obama and RINOs that they have to do it some more.According to this article at Commentary Magazine on the morning of October 11th, If Washington conventional wisdom is right this morning, Republicans are about to start walking away from the ledge onto which they climbed with the government...

Democratic leaders in the Senate are rejecting an offer by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to end the budget impasse, arguing it asks for too much in return for too little, aides and senators tell POLITICO. The Collins plan, which was drafted with input from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) and other senators, called for a six-month extension of government funding and a debt limit increase through January. But it asked for a delay in Obamacare’s medical device tax for two years and a requirement for income verification for Obamacare subsidies. .....This means that there is little time for the...

House Republican leaders on Saturday pulled one of their "mini" spending resolutions from the floor after dozens of Democrats tried to use the debate to call up the Senate's continuing resolution to re-open the government. Members were debating the American Indian and Alaska Native, Health, Education, and Safety Act, H.J.Res. 80, the 15th "mini" appropriations bill GOP leaders have called up. But in the midst of the debate, several Democrats lined up to make unanimous consent requests to call up the Senate's broad continuing resolution. Republicans repeated that it is not in order to call up the Senate resolution because...

NRO on Shutdown:Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 25m Cantor spokesman says Rep Joe Crowley engaged in physical altercation w GOP staffer Joseph Crowley NY-D-14th - Vice Chair of the Democrat Caucus

On NRO there are stirrings about how the day has begun on the Hill. ___________ Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 3m Leadership's tough words on Senate Rs contradicts assumption by many in Capitol that when McConnell jams Boehner, it's done w tacit approval Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 6m Cantor to House Rs in meeting: "We need Senate Republicans to stand up and stand firm." Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 11m Boehner told Rs Obama has agreed to nothing. Said everything depends on Senate Rs holding firm Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 21m Big question for Boehner, House Rs this am: How do you deal with Senate Rs...

Tensions between Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other potential 2016 presidential contenders over the government shutdown were visible just beneath the surface at Friday's Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. Cruz fired up the conservative crowd with a demand that they double down in their fight against ObamaCare, ripping establishment Republicans as well as Democrats for opposing him in his quest. But even in the aftermath of Cruz's fiery speech, others shied away from any discussion of the high-profile confrontation. The shutdown went unmentioned by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), both early champions of the defunding battle....

The image above is borrowed from the ad campaign “This is Your Brain on Drugs” that is indelibly etched in most of our minds. Piggy-backing on this, the phrase “Your Brain on Porn,” has gained popularity. Google that phrase and you will bring up a multitude of websites and videos from Christian and non-Christian sources. This is because pornography use—especially via the internet—has been demonstrated to be extremely destructive and habit forming. In fact, Cambridge researchers reported last month that the brain scans of heavy porn users were similar to the brain scans of drug addicts. This brings us to...

We are being told that the affordable care act fixes great injustices of insurance by allowing those with pre-existing conditions and those with catastrophic illness to have coverage. In the past, they say, insurance companies would only provide such coverage at great expense or not at all. Not so. When we finally read the law that "no one knew until we passed it" we found out about IPAB, the Independent Payment and Advisory Board. Howard Dean, no friend of conservatives opposing the ACA recently was quoted about the IPAB: "One major problem is the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board. The...

If Boehner and his House RINOs Cave In, and do NOT defund the Communist Law Obamacare, have they led us into the no escape, Communist Box Canyon called Obamacare? If Obamacare is not defunded by Boehner, Cantor and Ryan, then a name change is in order. Suggestions are as follows: BOEHNERCARE, or RINOCARE. Note: Capital letters are preferred to remind us of the Capital offense these sorry RINOs will have done to our descendants. In this way we can more accurately be reminded of who the real enemies of Freedom of Choice really are: Boehner and his House RINOs. What...

Only 8 percent of Japan’s marine products exceed radiation standards, according to a Tokyo’s official response to Korea’s questions about contamination from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said a Korean lawmaker. Democratic Party Representative Park Byeong-seug, vice speaker of the National Assembly and member of its Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee, yesterday revealed that Tokyo responded to Korean inquiries by saying that 8 percent of its marine products exceeded its allowed amount of radioactive cesium of 100 becquerel per kilogram. That level alone, Park said, justified Seoul’s import restrictions on Japan’s fishery products. The official response said that...

It's gotten little attention, but it's true: The individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act requires all Americans to have health insurance or face penalties, but members of medical-sharing ministries are exempt from the individual mandate that will be enforced beginning in 2015. It's there because of the work of then-Congressmen Tom Perriello, a Virginia Democrat and Sens. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, and Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, who fought to add the exemption to the law. It's the same principle that allowed for the Amish to be exempted from the individual mandate—with the crucial difference that it's a...

Health bureau says registration is to improve detection and management Zhengzhou health centers do have a quota to fill for registering people with severe mental health problems, but it is not compulsory, authorities said on Thursday. Communities are required to register 0.2 percent of the population as mentally ill and add them to a national monitoring network, as stipulated by the city health bureau last year. But doctors throughout the Henan provincial capital complained this week of being unable to meet the quota. "We have 35,398 residents, which means, according to the quota, we should have found at least 71...

The clinical trial of the world's first artificial biological cornea has proved successful in China. The artificial biological cornea was developed by Chinese scientists. The breakthrough of this technology may bring great hope to many visually impaired people throughout the country. Li Dong has the details. According to statistics, visual impairment for one forth of China's blind population was caused by problems with the cornea. For these people, a cornea transplant is the only hope they have of seeing again. In the past, cornea transplants relied solely on donation, making corneas is a scare resource. Scientists around the world have...

A spokesperson from China's Health and Family Planning watchdog says no comments to the recent report concerning Russia's free health care, as the situation differs greatly from country to country. Media reports which said that Russia is to announce free health care for its entire population have aroused concerns among Chinese netizens that domestic health care needs a change. Spokesperson Deng Haihua claims that Chinese media misread the source information relating to Russia's health care. "Health care reform is a worldwide difficulty," Deng said. China has been speeding up the establishment of a universal health care system, which can cover...