Free Republic

The AARP recently announced that it is taking its campaign against President Bush's proposed Social Security reform to the nation's youth, hoping to broaden its target audience from the credulous elderly to the credulous young. Thus, the AARP further cements its status as the country's foremost lobby against reform. So inquiring minds should have a few questions for AARP CEO William D. Novelli, the architect of the group's crusade to keep young people from having personal retirement accounts as part of Social Security: Since Bush has said that any proposal won't affect anyone 55 years of age or older, what...

PORT RICHEY - Four months ago, Hani and Betty Elias stood helplessly, watching years of work burn and burn. They watched the roof of their restaurant cave in. And for an hour, as the flames raged, they watched firefighters drench it from above. The water shot clear down to the floor of the Kountry Kitchen, and flowed out the front door in a dark, ashy stream. The Eliases looked on with dread - and regret. Months earlier they had let their insurance lapse while shopping for a new provider. But now, after refinancing their home and accepting lots of help...

Wal-Mart shoppers turned into rescuers Monday, lifting a car off a married couple in the parking lot of a Pembroke Pines store after an 88-year-old driver backed over them. Police said Able Pachon, 68, and Josefina Pachon, 65, visiting from Colombia, were walking outside the Wal-Mart when Marie Miller, 88, of Pembroke Pines, backed her 1988 Toyota Cressida over them, critically injuring them. The Toyota then hit a parked Ford Mustang, which hit a Jeep Liberty next to it. Neither car was occupied. Armando Barrionuevo, 29, was loading groceries into his car outside the store at Pines Boulevard and Southwest...

The Free-Lunch BunchThe Bush team's secret plan to "reform" Social Security During the 2000 campaign, candidate George W. Bush seemed particularly confident about his ability to pay for Social Security reform. Despite independent estimates that creating the kind of "voluntarily" private accounts he envisioned could cost more than $1 trillion, Bush consistently took the position that he could reform Social Security for free, without undermining promises to baby boomers anticipating retirement over the next several decades. Why was Bush so sure of himself? According to documents unearthed yesterday from the trove of 19,000 files given to me by former Treasury...

Georgia seniors are the target of mass mailings from Democrats this fall, but this time the issue is not Social Security. Republican lawmakers are being accused of voting to force thousands of elderly folks out of nursing homes. The problem is that most Democrats voted for the same spending cuts, which threatened "medically needy" nursing home patients. And state officials say they know of no elderly Georgians actually evicted because of the cuts. "It is fear politics at its worst," Sen. Randy Hall (R-Augusta), an incumbent targeted by the mailings, said. "To even suggest that any of us would knowingly...

Three women in their 70s were hospitalized after an elderly motorist apparently lost control of her Mercedes-Benz and plowed into the La Valencia Hotel on Prospect Street yesterday afternoon, police said. A busy stretch of Prospect Street was closed for about 90 minutes as paramedics tended to the injured and police conducted their investigation. The accident victims were near the Whaling Bar & Grill at the La Valencia about 1:30 p.m. when an 87-year-old woman driving a 1978 Mercedes-Benz suddenly accelerated in front of the hotel, jumped the curb and struck them with her vehicle, traffic investigators said. "Witnesses told...

WASHINGTON (AP) - AARP's fight for legislation giving private insurers a new role in Medicare surprised many Democrats, but in fact the giant retiree group has long been in the health insurance business itself. In 45 years, AARP has grown from a program founded to insure retired teachers to a more than $636 million-a-year empire that pays its chief executive a half-million-dollar salary and lends its name to things such as pharmacy services and Medicare supplemental insurance, and discounts for hotel rooms, car rentals, shopping and cruises. AARP bills itself as an advocacy group for older Americans, but draws more...

Bill Clinton apparently signed a deal with 60 minutes so he can come on and "Bash Bush" for $1000 a word. Dole has also signed on to counter attack on 60 minutes. Anyways on Fox and Friends this morning they were talking about it, and Brian was trying to think of a way to insult Clinton, and it came out.. Well maybe they can share Viagra! As his voice trailed off...because Bob Dole seems to have a lot of it.

<p>The Southern Tier desperately needs an infusion of people in their 20s to help the region regain some demographic balance -- but they must be a special kind of young adults, willing to play by our rules.</p> <p>Rule No. 1: Sshh!</p>