Free Republic

DISGUSTING: Despite legislation passed by Congress to make it possible to sue foreign governments that sponsor terrorism, in a filing in federal court, the Justice Department is arguing that giving the money to the victims "can have significant, detrimental impact on our foreign relations, as well as the reciprocal treatment of the United States and its extensive overseas property holdings."

The media is stirring up drama regarding tomorrow's vote - namely, they are speculating whether Landrieu and Lincoln will vote with Reid to start debate. Of course they will. Three big reasons: (a) "Keep the Ball Rolling". Tomorrow's vote - like all of the votes to date - is a process vote, meaning that Obama and the leadership can argue, "Vote yea to keep the process going. We can improve the bill later if you stick with us." Every vote they have won to date has, I think, been won based on this argument - and it should carry the...

Read the full billRead the tax revenue score from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) Read the budget and tax score from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) PDF of this DocumentIndividual Mandate Tax (Page 324/Sec. 1501/$8 bil): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the following schedule (capped at 8 percent of income): ==============> Check out this important piece, at ATR.org...

I keep asking my liberal frends how they can continue to support Democrats like Senator Reid when they all lie almost everytime they open their mouths. How can Reid say, with a straight face, that his bill will "save Medicare"? If they cut Medicare by almost $500 billion as his bill intends, it will destroy Medicare. If the Democrats restore the cuts in a slight of hand, it will destroy our economy. When a national politician of the Democratic Party speaks, like Obama, Holder, Reid, Pelosi or Durbin, they are either lying, spinning or distorting the subject so as to...

Ninety-two percent of the almost 2,000 physicians who responded to a Jackson Healthcare survey of physicians agree with Dr. Chad Hewitt. The number one way to reduce health care costs may be tort reform.

Senate Democrats' health care bill would create a new marriage penalty by imposing a tax on individuals who make $200,000 annually but hitting married couples making just $50,000 more.

With less than a year until Election Day, the stakes for this country could not be higher. Nancy Pelosi and her puppets have put our country on a path for bankruptcy and rationed healthcare.   With that in mind, I wanted to take a moment to tell you about an exciting project - Reverse the Vote. This site is a tool that allows concerned Americans to directly support the challengers of 24 vulnerable Democrats who voted to take your healthcare away and put it in the hands of federal bureaucrats.This project will hold these 24 Democrats’ feet to the fire for voting...

Few issues have caused as much of a stir this year as the question of whether illegal immigrants will be included in the Democratic healthcare bill. Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst after President Obama stated in September that illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered is one example of the tension. Eighty percent of Americans are loath to subsidize illegal immigrants according to a June 2009 Rasmussen poll. But there's something that might help solve part of the problem, a campaign by Mexican officials to improve the state of healthcare in their own country. Mexico's healthcare system is corrupt, unwieldy, and...

Red Neck Rampage. Darn, it makes me feel good to watch this video...!!!

Friend -- Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn. It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists. Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform. As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can't afford more deception and delay. We need...

November 20, 2009 Dear Senator Bayh, I tried to call your Washington and Indianapolis offices, but the voice mail boxes were full. I am writing this email to you to plead with you not to vote to bring this health care bill up for senate vote. NOTE: A vote for it now IS a vote to allow it to eventually pass because, as you know, it is quite possible you can vote against its final version knowing full-well that there will be enough votes for it's final passage because the vote requirements are fewer. There are many reasons why you...

Remember it for your grandchildren: Saturday, November 21, 2009—the day of the Transformation of America. That’s the day Global Marxism will begin its inexorable march to take down the Free World, starting with its leader the United States of America. There will be no shots fired, but the aim of the U.S. Senate’s poison arrow is right on target at the heart of humanity. While America’s Marxist President is abroad, Senate Majority House Leader Harry Reid is tying the red ribbon bow on his Christmas present, the Transformation, and Take Down of the United States of America. “Senate Majority...

Should we add to the deficit or pay doctors less? That’s the question Congress is contemplating after coming up $200 billion short for Medicare providers’ reimbursement this year. he $200 billion “Doc Fix” issue is controversial because Democrats are trying to separate it off from the larger health care bill snaking its way through Congress. By separating off doc fix, they can maintain that Obamacare is budget neutral, because that’s the way it was scored by the Congressional Budget Office. They can’t maintain the bill’s budget-neutrality after a doc fix is added into the mix. “Let's be clear, House Republicans...

The Arts Council has given a epileptic dancer £14,000 to stop taking her medication and have a seizure on stage. Rita Marcalo’s 24-hour performance, involving strobe lights and sleep deprivation, is billed as a study of the “conceptual and physical interfaces between dance, movement and epilepsy”. Epilepsy charities said that the event turned a much misunderstood condition into a freak show and warned of the potentially severe dangers of coming off epilepsy drugs. Marcalo said that she wanted to raise awareness of epilepsy as “an invisible disability” and would use next month’s adults-only show at Bradford Playhouse to explore “my...

The statistics showing when accident and emergency departments discharge or admit patients should worry everyone. What they clearly illustrate is the extent to which healthcare professional’s clinical decision making is tied into the 4 hour A&E target looming over them. This can lead to the complete and utter distortion of clinical care decisions. Often, diagnosis and decision making in medicine is a waiting game. You order tests, you record vital signs. For some patients the decision to be kept in or sent home might be the same regardless of when you were seen. But the huge spike in decision making...

Days after controversy erupted over new breast cancer screening guidelines, a US health group has said women should wait longer to get their first cervical cancer test. The New York Times reported Friday that the American College of Obstetricians is now advising women to wait until age 21 to get their first Pap smear. The advice is intended to cut down on unnecessary testing and reduce the risk of harmful invasive procedures to remove non-cancerous lesions that may show up on tests but often disappear if left alone, the group said. The new recommendations overturn previous guidance, which suggested women...

Stroking a pet can help patients cut their amount of painkillers in half, according to a new study. The research found that patients who had undergone hip or knee replacement operations needed less painkillers if they used pet therapy. It is well known that animal owners are generally healthier than non-pet owners because they can help reduce stress and encourage exercise. In Britain a charity called Pets and Therapy has been taking animals into care homes, hospices, hospitals and children's wards to help patients recover and reduce stress levels since 1983. A conference in America has heard that patients recovering...

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)Chief of Staff Joan Ohashi joan_ohashi@akaka.senate.gov Communications Director Jon Yoshimura jon_yoshimura@akaka.senate.gov Press Secretary Jesse Broder Van Dyke jesse_brodervandyke@akaka.senate.gov Legislative Director Jennifer Tyree jennifer_tyree@akaka.senate.gov Deputy Legislative Director Matt Pippin matt_pippin@akaka.senate.gov Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana)Chief of Staff Jon Selib jon_selib@baucus.senate.gov Communications Director Tyler Ryan “Ty” Matsdorf tyler_matsdorf@baucus.senate.gov Press Secretary Carolyn Bunce carolyn_bunce@baucus.senate.gov Legislative Director Paul Stockton Wilkins paul_wilkins@baucus.senate.gov Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana)Chief of Staff Charles Salem charlie_salem@bayh.senate.gov Deputy Chief of Staff Linda Moore Forbes linda_forbes@bayh.senate.gov Communications Director Eric D. Kleiman eric_kleiman@bayh.senate.gov Press Secretary Brian Weiss brian_weiss@bayh.senate.gov Counsel Jesse Gabriel jesse_gabriel@bayh.senate.gov Fax: (202) 228-1377 Legislative Director Jayme Roth jayme_roth@bayh.senate.gov Legislative...

Leaders of the Republican National Committee say revised recommendations issued by a government-funded panel that say women only need to be screened for breast cancer after the age of 50 could be the beginning of health care rationing by the government. RNC Chairman Michael Steele and co-chair Jan Larimer wrote a letter to President Obama Thursday, obtained by the Washington Times, that calls the new recommendations a "thinly veiled attempt to save money by limiting mammograms has the effect of placing a dollar value on a human life." The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, an independent panel of doctors and...

ABC’s Robin Roberts on Thursday pressed a government official on rationing and a new recommendation that women under the age of 50 shouldn’t get regular mammograms. Talking to one of report's authors, she chided, "Dr. [Thomas] Wilt, you know many are feeling that this is trying to save money, that this is a political move." Roberts challenged Wilt, who is with the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. Although she didn’t specifically use the word rationing, the implication was clear: "You are an independent panel, but federally funded independent panel. How do you respond to those who feel that this is...

When Sarah Palin said Obama’s healthcare plan would result in “death panels” that would see bureaucrats making subjective judgements on life and death, she was furiously howled down by Obama supporters. So how should we describe the expert panel of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which decided that patients will be denied a new cancer drug on the NHS under draft guidelines, because it is too expensive? Charities are outraged people with advanced liver cancer are to be refused life-extending Nexavar. Andrew Dillon, of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said: “The drug does not...

While the Senate is now preparing to debate Democratic Leader Harry Reid's 2000-plus-page version of the health care reform plan, 47% of Americans still believe the private sector rather than the federal government has the best chance of keeping health care costs down and the quality of medical care up. But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 33% of adults think the federal government would do a better job of reducing costs and maintaining quality of care. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided. Forty-nine percent (49%) of adults who already have insurance say the private sector would accomplish...

WASHINGTON – Most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually, say new guidelines that conclude that's enough to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.

Skip the first seconds with Letterman - after that I LOVED it! PASS IT ON to your friends and your email list.

Health care by finesBy Jay Nerger Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009 Do not pass go, do not collect $200. There is no escaping the fact of having to shell out $15,000 for the new yet-to-be-passed-in-both-houses health care bill, H.R. 3962. Plus, you must do this regardless of any pre-existing insurance plan whether you like it or not. To me, this seems a bit on the side of authoritarian rule, where the ruling party says “jump” and you have to jump. I could have sworn that I live in the United States of America and not 16th century France. And if...

The Cook Political Report lays out what readers of this blog have been hearing a lot lately: Plenty of veteran Democrats who haven't had to break a campaign sweat this decade are quickly losing their aura of invincibility. Next fall, some in this category are likelier to face tough races than many of the 42 less tenured Democrats who populate the "Frontline" list.SnipLess than a year out from Election Day, it's time to rethink who the vulnerable Democrats are. And if President Obama is the dominant issue of the 2010 midterms (and rarely has a midterm not been a referendum...

READ THE BILL: SENATE VERSION OF OBAMACARE NOW ONLINE Senator Jim DeMint Website ^ | 11/19/2009 | Jim DeMint staff Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2009 5:26:51 PM by snippy_about_it Read the Bill: Senate Version of ObamaCare Now Online Saturday night set for initial health care vote AP ^ | 11/18/09 | AP Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2009 5:53:08 PM by mdittmar WASHINGTON — The Senate will hold its first vote on health care legislation on Saturday night and Democrats will need 60 votes to prevail. Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the schedule on the Senate floor, one day...

Levin Surge! Say No to Reid Health Care Bill! Call These Senators & Tell Them to Vote No on Reid’s Health Care Bill (Remember Be Polite) Mary Landrieu of Louisiana 202-224-5824 Ben Nelsonof Nebraska 202-224-6551 Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas 202-224-4843 Evan Bayh of Indiana 202-224-5623

Happiness. This Blog Linked From Here My Blog List Conservative Site Links This Blog Linked From Here My Blog List Conservative Site Links One Nation Under God One Nation Under God Thursday, November 19, 2009 Why The Recent Task Force Panel Urging Mammograms at 50, Not 40 Is Very Telling About Inevitable Rationing If Health Care Reform Passes Remember how the left wing media and pundits mocked Sarah Palin when she mentioned 'rationing' and 'death panels' in the Democrat Health Care Reform? The actual language was "Medical Review Board" for the elderly. However, it amounted to the same thing. The...

Senate Republican aides say that Harry Reid has scheduled the first vote on his health-care bill for Saturday night for 8:00 p.m. after 10 hours of floor debate. Ed Morrissey notes that registered voters oppose the House health care bill 51 percent to 35 percent; a poll done by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling shows registered voters oppose "President Obama’s health care plan" 52 percent to 40 percent. All eyes are on Democratic senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska to see if he will vote Saturday night on the motion to proceed. Nelson is threatening to filibuster the final bill...

Doctor Shortage by Dick Morris Joseph Stubbs, president of the American College of Physicians — the second-largest doctors’ group in the country — confirms that “the supply of doctors just won’t be there” for the 30 million new patients President Barack Obama wants to cover. Noting that the doctor shortage is “already a catastrophic crisis,” Stubbs noted that underserved areas in the U.S. currently need almost 17,000 new primary care physicians even before Obama’s proposals are enacted. In the meantime, according to Bloomberg News, a 2009 survey by Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a recruiting and research firm in Irving, Texas,...

Reform: Only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement. But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill — said to cost only $849 billion over a decade — would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." We suspect Reid's...

With all that in mind, an article in Esquire, “The 'Socialist' American Reform That Worked Long Before Health Care”, seemed timely. After all, the premise was that the past struggle for universal public education in the United States is analogous to the current struggle for universal health care.

am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill. In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.) Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu. How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.

A popular Iowa State Senator and and a former Iowa State University wrestling coach could pose significant challenges to Democrat Leonard Boswell's Third District Congressional seat.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed cloture and scheduled a vote on his “mammoth" 2,074-page health care reform bill (H.R. 3590) at 8 PM on Saturday. The Democrats wish to rush the vote before Senators return home for Thanksgiving. If the bill passes then it would wind up in conference with the House and with only the Democrats crafting the final compromise bill suitable to just the Democrats because no Republican or Conservative democrat votes would be needed. Well now we will see if the Republicans stand strong and if old lions like Sen Joe Lieberman and other conservatives...

For the past couple of months I have worried about the risks of a failed presidency. No one should want this, regardless of party affiliation. It is harmful and dangerous to our economy and country. However, it appears obvious to me that the royal regime known as Obama has ended. Seth Leibsohn writing in the National Review summarized it this way: "This is reminiscent of the Jimmy Carter years - the last time the U.S. was seen as weak - unable to move and coax other countries, unable to reassure dependent allies, unable to have the respect of the world...

ObamaCare is so clearly unconstitutional that it's embarrassing, disgusting, shameful, and dangerous that 215 Congressmen would even consider proposing it. It's almost even more atrocious that the American people can so nonchalantly allow their Constitutional rights to be stolen from them.

Army officials plan to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg on Monday, saying they fear the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama. Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press on Thursday that Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin's book promotion at the North Carolina base. SNIP McCollum said the Army did not want the event to become a platform for Palin supporters to express political opinions "directed against the commander in chief."

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) officially joined Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) as the second member of the Democratic Conference to threaten a filibuster of the Senate’s health care reform bill. http://bit.ly/2yYu8c

What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform? Here’s a case study. On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.” The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.” I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get...

Read the Bill: Senate Version of ObamaCare Now Online Late Wednesday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) released his own version of a health care bill that if passed will raise taxes, increase premiums, cut Medicare and lead to health care rationing. It's imperative that freedom-loving Americans everywhere raise their voices in opposition to this bill. It truly represents a government takeover of health care. To be better informed for the battle ahead, read the entire bill (or at least skim over its 2,074 pages) here.

The health care, or "Obama care," debate is more than about seniors, and I'm about to become one. It's also about rationing, lengthy waits for care, and sometimes no care at all for ALL age groups. I'm a Hugh Hewitt fan, but he, Dick Morris and others talk almost exclusively about the effect on seniors. That, unfortunately, limits the number of people outraged by the government-run "option." The current mammogram debate is an example of how everyone will be affected. Please call and write that everyone will be affected.

Did Obama lie in his joint address to Congress when he said "no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions?" [VIDEO AT SITE] Last summer and earlier this fall Obama repeatedly claimed that those on our side who expressed concerns about many aspects of the health bills working their way through Congress were lying about certain provisions. One of those "lies" was the GOP claim that money from the government run plans would be used to fund abortions. When Joe Wilson shouted "YOU LIE" during Obama's speech to Congress, Joe wasn't just talking about illegal immigrants getting benefits under...

GOUVERNEUR, NY - The computerized voting machines used by many voters in the 23rd district had a computer virus - tainting the results, not just from those machines known to have been infected, but casting doubt on the accuracy of counts retrieved from any of the machines

The Senate is headed for a rare Saturday vote to advance its major healthcare reform bill without a guarantee of success, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) indicated Thursday. At a rally with supporters of the healthcare reform bill, Reid would not say he had secured commitments from all 60 members of the Democratic Conference to vote for the legislation — an absolute necessity given unanimous opposition from the 40 Senate Republicans. "We'll find out when the votes are taken," Reid said. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of three Democratic holdouts, said Thursday that he would announce his intentions prior to...

I am "new" to the site. I think this is my first post. However I have been a reader for years and am a libertarian leaning Republican. I had a thought about healthcare reform that is scaring me. Although I don't think it can pass, consequences could be terrifying if it does. For purposes of sharing my nightmare, let’s assume it passes. Let’s also assume that the SCOTUS has the same five conservative members when compulsion to buy health insurance is enacted into law. It would be unprecedented for the government to mandate disposal of wealth in such a way....

Health bill could get 34-hour reading in Senate Joseph Curl The 2,074-page Senate health care bill would take 34 hours to read cover to cover -- and that's just what Sen. Tom Coburn wants done on the Senate floor. The Oklahoma Republican has threatened to invoke parliamentary rules to force the Senate clerk (or more likely, a team of clerks) to read the massive bill before the full Senate begins formal debate on the legislation. The move is strictly according to Senate rules, which say any senator can demand a bill be read in its entirety before debate begins. While...

Doctors and nurses should be more honest and open when things go wrong and offer an apology to the patient or their family under new guidance to the NHS. Clinicians are often fearful of saying sorry when a patient has been harmed by a blunder because it may influence any future legal action, but it is the 'right thing to do, the head of the National Patient Safety Agency has said. When patients file complaints or litigation, their aim is often for the people involved to say sorry and to ensure the same thing does not happen to someone else,...

If we are to escape from dilemmas such as Nice's fateful decision on Nexavar, it can only be by permitting additional revenue streams into the NHS, argues Janet Daley. Nice has made another of its fateful (or "fatal") decisions: the drug, Nexavor, which significantly prolongs the life of liver cancer patients, and is widely available in other countries, is not be used by the NHS because it is too expensive. So all those who might have benefited from it have effectively been told that, on accounting principles, they are not worth keeping alive. Nice is functioning as what the US...