Free Republic

The Senate confirmed McFaul as ambassador on December 17, 2011. Transcript below. NPR: Let's say Vladimir Putin wins the election in March and remains in power in Russia. Where are we in these countries, I mean in this evolution towards democracy you describe? MCFAUL: We're, you know, two decades in. I'm not going to give grades about, oh, how democratic or not it is, but most certainly this system is not the totalitarian dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Let's be very clear about that. Individual rights have progressed far. Choice is greater than it was before. And maybe not as...

Lawmakers weigh universal health care bill for MassachusettsBy Associated Press Thursday, December 15, 2011 - Added 24 hours ago Beacon Hill lawmakers are planning to hear testimony on two bills designed to create universal health coverage in Massachusetts. **SNIP** The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. James Eldridge, said the so-called "public option" would give consumers more choice while increasing competition and reducing insurance costs. A second bill also filed by the Acton Democrat would create a so-called single-payer health care system for Massachusetts, guaranteeing health care coverage for every resident.

ORLANDO, Florida -- Universal Studios Florida plans to close one of its oldest and most popular attractions next month to make way for a new attraction. The theme park announced on Facebook on Friday that on Jan. 2 it will permanently shut down its "Jaws" ride, which is based on the blockbuster 1975 Steven Spielberg movie. It was one of the original features at the park when it opened in 1990. The surrounding "Amity" area inspired by the island where the movie was set will also close down to make room for a new attraction. The park isn't releasing any...

>>>THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED FOUR YEARS AGO. STILL A HOT TOPIC.>>>> The Vatican recently announced a return to the Latin Mass for congregations that wish to use it. Much of the world was bewildered or bemused. Oh great, old-fashioned religionists will be listening to sonorous noise that nobody understands. Ah, but what if they did! I believe the Pope’s decision is a great opportunity, both for spiritual enlightenment and educational advances. Perhaps I should mention that I’m not a Catholic or someone who goes to religious ceremonies of any kind. I write as an education activist; in that context, let’s...

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that the Motion Picture Association Of America representing the Hollywood movie studios will be co-hosting a tribute to Ronald Reagan’s film career on November 14th in Washington DC. The other host will be the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, which is the year-long commemoration of Reagan’s 100th birthday in 2011. All the movie studios are obtaining old footage of Reagan’s 53-movie legacy from 1937 to 1965 and are putting together around 5 cinematic profiles of the former Screen Actors Guild president for the bipartisan event. But I suspect the real reason behind this Reagan tribute is to remind...

Episode 7 on our sacred constitution under attack by liberals and socialized medicine. Clips from various speakers including Alex Jones and in the end you will see what will happen if our constitution is shredded like liberals want to happen.

Episode 5 of how socialized medicine and weapons bans will lead to the end of our liberty and freedom. This features footage of soviet gulags and mental hospitals used to isolate and torture dissidents and opponents of liberal policy as well as a special guest appearence by Actor and Former president Ronald Reagan, warning us on the dangers of Universal healthcare.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3OPgDobGO4&feature=related Be sure to download on your hard drive using www.keepvid.com or by pressing prtscr on your key board and pasting these on ms paint and saving them as JPG or BMP images. I got banned from photobucket from posting this stuff! I also might get banned from youtube as well!

If you look at your phone bill, you might notice a fee tacked on for something called the Universal Service Fund. That surcharge is used to help connect underserved parts of America, mostly rural, with phone service. Well, now the Federal Communications Commission is starting work on a plan to convert that $8 billion fund. Instead of subsidizing phone service, it would instead help provide broadband Internet to underserved areas. And FCC chairman Julius Genachowski joins me to explain. Why don't you make your pitch, Chairman Genachowski? Why the need for change? Mr. JULIUS GENACHOWSKI (Chairman of the Federal Communications...

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski last week used the release of a new report on the information needs of communities as an opportunity to focus attention on the link between universal broadband availability and "healthy online journalism." ... The focus of Genachowski’s speech was a new 478-page online report, "The Information Needs of Communities," authored by veteran reporter, editor and online publisher Steve Waldman and members of the FCC staff. ... Genachowski said the report identifies areas in which the government, the private sector and nonprofits “can help make success possible for journalists and entrepreneurs that are trying to seize the...

The above title should say it all. It is a currently unheard of social program but one that will become widely known just like Social security and Universal health care. The Universal Basic Income is essentially getting free money for life with no strings attached. ABSOLUTELY NONE! It is already beginning to take hold in New Zealand and is being contemplated (not surprisingly) by that Communist liberal utopia that Democrats want us to emulate, the European Union. According to websites such as basic income.com and similar websites advocating the implementation of UBI, everyone would receive somewhere between six hundred to...

Implicit in the contemporary American health care system is a threat: Conform and spend your life behaving yourself in limited jobs or we will deny you insurance and put your health and your family’s future at risk. Restrictions on health care availability are an effective form of social control. We often talk about this in terms of women’s health care. But too often lost in the health care debate is the broader truth: health care is used as a weapon of control. In a certain sense, we can be healthy or we can be truly free. So much for Patrick...

IBM researchers have made a breakthrough in a new kind of memory chip that can record data 100 times faster than today’s flash memory chips. That means scientists are one step closer to creating a universal memory chip that is fast, permanent, and has lots of capacity. If they really work as billed, these multi-bit phase-change memory chips could transform enterprise computing and storage by around 2016, according to IBM. The technology could lead to chips that are lower cost, faster, and more durable in storing applications for consumer devices, including mobile phones and cloud storage. It could also benefit...

Watching a stampede of seemingly unconnected 'democratic movements' across the moslem ME, you might be fooled into thinking that America and the wonderfully liberating basis of representitive government is only just a few airstrikes away from fruition. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Imagine a piece of plastic that gets you a doctor's appointment, pays your bills, allows you to rent a car or buy a plane ticket and even get Moscow registration faster than the sham ads in the Moscow metro. President Dmitry Medvedev promised Monday that three years from now all Russians will have this magic card. He gave the government till May to make final calculations of the funds necessary to introduce the universal electronic card, or UEC, for all citizens and urged banks to not take advantage of card users at the meeting of the commission on modernization and...

Universal Health Care: Is It Constitutional?Garrett Epps Oct 18 2010, 11:22 AM ET The heart of the challenge to the new federal health-care program is this image: an individual is doing nothing at all, bothering no one, when suddenly a federal bureaucrat appears and requires him or her to buy a commercial product or pay a tax. The program's opponents claim that, in the guise of regulating commercial activity, it regulates "inactivity." This, it is claimed, is unprecedented and tyrannical. Three federal courts so far have taken a first look at the argument. One, in Michigan, rejected it. The second,...

No need to believe in Jesus. Believe whatever you want! ELCA seminary professor, David J. Lull, says you are going to heaven no matter what. This is Part 2 (see Part 1) of an examination of Dr. David J. Lull, Professor of New Testament at Wartburg Theological Seminary series of lectures in January 2010 titled, "Preaching Lent and Easter." The following are quotes from Dr. Lull's lectures - "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom [lytron] for many (Mk 10.45) - The term 'many' is not restrictive,...

Emma Watson took some time away from her studies to enjoy a behind-closed-doors tour of the muc- hyped Wizarding World Of Harry Potter at the Orlando Resort in Florida. The 20-year-old actress, who plays Hermione Granger in the films, was joined by some of her co-stars, including Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and Oliver and James Phelps (Weasley twins Fred and George). Dressed in a short blue summer dress, Emma, who is currently studying at Brown University in Rhode Island, was given a tour around the $200m stunning attraction ahead of its official opening in June.

It would be funny were it not so pathetic. No, I take that back. It is hilarious, knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud funny, and I have been laughing about it since I found out about it. Fellow examiner, Jim Kouri, (Law Enforcement Examiner) alerted me to the fact that Media Matters, the leftwing, Soros-funded, media lapdog, er watchdog, had taken me and others to task over reportage on universal voter registration. The issue was John Fund's naming of Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) as pushing universal voter registration legislation along with point man, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Fund said this in a recorded panel...

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) says conservatives are fabricating stories about his intention to implement "universal voter registration."The Massachusetts Democrat is pushing back against rumors that he will introduce legislation requiring anyone whose name appears in a government databases--including felons and illegal aliens--to register to vote.Frank's office cited a speech by the Wall Street Journal's John Fund as the origin of the rumor. The rumor has since been repeated by conservative radio hosts and blogs. Here's an excerpt from Fund's speech: "In January, Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank will propose universal voter registration. What is universal voter registration? It means...

Democrats have a political death wish. At least that's how it looks. There's no other explanation for their feverish push to take over the health care system when a huge majority of Americans are opposed to the plan. But facing an angry public, Democrats are scheming to find ways to manipulate the electoral process so they can cling to power even when voters want to kick the bums out. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat, have plans to ram through legislation that will produce universal voter registration. No matter what they claim, the...

Many are puzzled that Democrats persist in ramming unpopular and destructive legislation down our collective throats with no apparent concern for their plummeting poll numbers. A widespread belief is that the Democrats are committing political suicide and will be swept from one or both houses of Congress with unprecedented electoral losses next November. But since Democrat politicians rarely do things that will not ultimately benefit themselves, this column asked two weeks ago, "What do they know that we don't?" We may have found out. It's called universal voter registration. The Wall Street Journal's John Fund described the Democrat plan recently...

Many are puzzled that Democrats persist in ramming unpopular and destructive legislation down our collective throats while seemingly unconcerned by their plummeting poll numbers. A widespread belief is that the Democrats are committing political suicide and will be swept from one or both houses of Congress with unprecedented electoral losses next November. But since Democrat politicians rarely do things that will not ultimately benefit themselves, this column asked two weeks ago: "what do they know that we don't?" We may have found out. It's called universal voter registration. The Wall Street Journal's John Fund described the Democrat plan recently at...

With all the controversy over specifics and politicians wrangling for more power, people have missed the big picture. The big picture is simple: Obamacare fails at every major goal is has set out to achieve. Let us take another step back in the health care debate. After all the yelling, screaming, and demagoguery, what exactly are our leaders trying to achieve? Ultimately, when you boil it down, they want to accomplish two major things: universal coverage, and minimizing increases in costs. Here is the scary thing: after spending a $1 trillion more in the next decade...the Democrats bill will do...

Here are five suggestions for how to bring the network back: 1. Part ways with Jeff Zucker -- or at least ban him from any oversight of the network. ... Take out the performance of the broadcast network, and Zucker's tenure at the Peacock has seen plenty of successes (and profits). ... But this story is about what can be done to save the NBC television network. Zucker has done far more harm than good to that part of the business. ... 2. Don't make any hard and fast rules. The last decade at NBC has been marked by a...

Thought experiment: Ten years from now, the United States has fully embraced universal healthcare and the government is responsible for administering every aspect of medicine. Two patients' files fall on the desk of a governemnt employee: Both have brain tumours in exactly the same places, and only with heroic attempts will either survive. One is a 25 year old man. One is an 91 year old woman. With heroic methods each have about a 20% chance of survival. Since the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution does not discriminate based on age, can the 91 year old woman expect the...

Negligent medical personnel of a hospital in Omsk, Russia, caused mass blindness to hospital patients. During surgeries, the doctors infected the patients’ eyes, making 13 people blind. According to Rosbalt news agency, lawyers of the affected patients are pessimistic. They do not think that it will be possible to hold the health professionals accountable...

Kidney patient must make three trips a week to Saint John for dialysis, while a unit sits idle 10 minutes from her home A1 By Jim Dumville Helping her mother travel more than 1,200 kilometres each week to secure life-saving medical procedure, while the necessary medical equipment sits only a few kilometres away, has become a major source of disbelief and frustration for a Woodstock businesswoman. In a detailed letter addressed to political and health-care officials and members of the media, Woodstock's Kelly Atherton outlined the lengths she and her family must go to ensure her mother receives dialysis treatment....

What bias? They did the same thing for George W. Bush didn't they?

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey is organizing a march on Washington against the Obama administration’s healthcare plan that he hopes will finally finish off the Democratic push for socialized medicine. The march, organized by Armey’s political group FreedomWorks, is scheduled for Sept. 12 and is already generating hundreds of thousands of responses, the Texas Republican tells Newsmax.TV. The group is isn’t providing transportation, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. See Video: Fomer House Majority Leader Dick Armey talks about the movement to defeat Obamacare

Opponents of Barack Obama’s healthcare proposals are using the tactics of Saul Alinksy, the legendary leftwing activist who helped inspire the US president when he was a young community organiser, says Dick Armey, head of Freedom Works, a group fighting against universal healthcare. Mr Armey, who was the Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives for most of the 1990s, said his group, which is behind many of the “tea party” protests that have disrupted town-hall meetings in the past two weeks, draws consciously on the forms of agitation pioneered by Mr Alinsky. Mr Obama, who worked as a...

Joshua has been taking the bus to his local Whole Foods in New York City every five days for the past two years. This week, he said he'll go elsewhere to fulfill his fresh vegetable and organic produce needs. "I will never shop there again," vowed Joshua, a 45-year-old blogger, who asked that his last name not be published. Like many of his fellow health food fanatics, Joshua said he will no longer patronize the store after learning about Whole Foods Market Inc.'s CEO John Mackey's views on health care reform, which were made public this week in an op-ed...

The below blog posting is actually a story that broke last year but never got much media attention, or at least, nowhere near the attention that it should have received. Oregon has Universal Health Care and this case offers a preview of what we can expect nationally if Obamacare passes: A Preview Of Universal Health Care: Oregon Woman Denied Medicine, Offered Assisted Suicide Instead 84rules August 11, 2008

In any country other than the United States, it’s hard to feel the intensity of the national dispute over healthcare. It’s consuming Barack Obama’s presidency, and so it should. He’s right to have told Americans that they can’t afford their medical system (that is genteel understatement) and that it’s going to bankrupt their Government soon. But he’s wrong in the way he’s trying to solve it — including his curious detachment from the details of the plan that will make or break his presidency. Why has his grand notion gone so badly adrift? At last, yesterday afternoon, Obama was plunging...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283011/posts Isle health care law questioned [Hawaii] 06/30/2009 8:47:40 PM PDT · by Lorianne · 2 replies · 178+ views source material cannot be posted | June 30, 2009 Synopsis: Hawaii's 1974 law requiring employers to provide health insurance for employees working at least 20 hours a week is being is cited by researchers as not an effective way to reach universal healthcare. Link in post below ___ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2113978/posts Hawaii hospitals report losses of $150 million (Universal FREE Healthcare!) 10/24/2008 5:51:54 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 21 replies · 454+ views news.moneycentral.msn.com ^ | 10/24/2008 | Staff Hawaii...

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!! Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benes u get Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!! Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose UR HC Benefits 4 you. U have no choice! PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided 2 ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time...

It would have many uses including military applications, radar tracking: A universal mirror, an object that reflects all light waves back at their source, has been created by scientists in Europe and Asia. Imagine a tennis player hitting a ball against a wall. The ball would bounce right back to the player no matter what angle he or she directed the shot. A universal mirror has the same effect, except with light waves. Unlike an ordinary mirror, which only reflects objects at 90 degrees, a universal mirror reflects objects back at any angle. In other words, a person positioned in...

BOSTON — A hospital that serves thousands of indigent Massachusetts residents sued the state on Wednesday, charging that its costly universal health care law is forcing the hospital to cover too much of the expense of caring for the poor. The hospital, Boston Medical Center, faces a $38 million deficit for the fiscal year ending in September, its first loss in five years. The suit says the hospital will lose more than $100 million next year because the state has lowered Medicaid reimbursement rates and stopped paying Boston Medical “reasonable costs” for treating other poor patients. “We filed this suit...

Massachusetts' budget forces retreat from universal coverage15. July 2009 18:40 "The new state budget in Massachusetts eliminates health care coverage for some 30,000 legal immigrants to help close a growing deficit, reversing progress toward universal coverage just as Congress looks to the state as a model for overhauling the nation’s health care system," the New York Times reports. The affected immigrants are permanent residents who have had green cards for less than five years and are insured through the Commonwealth Care program, an insurance program created by the 2006 law that brought near-universal coverage to Massachusetts. The cuts would save...

As the Senate committee puts on it's usual media dog and pony show for what will ultimately result in the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor, other Senate members from the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee (HELP) slithered behind the scenes to bring the nation one step closer to Obama's "remade" America with universal health care by passing a a $600 billion health-care reform bill called the the Affordable Health Choices Act. "What was passed today is the foundation for meaningful reform," said Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Democrat. "This bill says that health care is not a luxury, its a necessity....

Excessive Government involvement is what's wrong with our current healthcare system. One prominent example: FDA regulation and Medicare/Medicaid policies are suppressing new drug and device options and increasing healthcare costs. The FDA's approval process for new technologies costs companies between 250 and 800 million dollars. It takes an average of 8.5 years to move through the FDA's clinical and approval phases and there is no guarantee of approval. Out of 5000 compounds discovered in the pre-clinical stage, only about 5 will make it through. The cost of approved and non-approved drugs and devices are passed on to the physician practice,...

This is an article filled with good links, that demonstrates Obama's effort to pretend to offer us a choice, but really the supporters of socialized medicine are out of the closet on the destruction of private health care as a whole. It is not about the efficacy of socialized health care, it is about showing how we are not really being offered a choice, and it demonstrates the slipping support for the plan. http://www.examiner.com/x-14881-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m6d25-Obamas-Health-Care-Reform-debacle

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky addressing over 500 Chicago area residents and local political leaders at the Health Care For America Now rally in Chicago. The rally called for quality, affordable health care for all in 2009.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (9th, IL) speaks to a group of sheep regarding the government plans for universal health care.

This video is an entry for the Galen’s Institute’s “Do No Harm” contest.

Is your medical insurance bad for your health? If you have a high-deductible plan, the answer may be yes. The investment firm Fidelity recently surveyed employees at various companies who had opted for a high-deductible health plan linked to a health savings account. About half of those workers said they or a family member had chosen not to seek medical care for minor ailments as many as four times in the last year to avoid paying the out-of-pocket expenses. As any doctor will tell you, small health problems left untreated can become big problems, warns Kathleen Stoll, director of health...

Everyone on both sides of the issue should read this. Frankly, I’m tired of pro universal health care advocates pretending there is a mythological utopia involving government run medical care. The truth is there are more negatives to it than positives. On the other hand, I’m getting tired of opponents of universal health care proclaiming that there are people dead in the street where ever you have government run health care. The truth is there is decent medical treatment in most western universal health care systems. You have the facts with your side, but you can’t blow them out of...

“Systems” appeal to politicians and paper-pushers. Patients need care from human beings. But if you want to know what a government-controlled, monopolistic “system” is like, just visit the DMV − and imagine that not your driving privilege but your life depended on the wisdom and empathy of bureaucrats.

Did the fact that Canada has a socialist, government-run healthcare system --similar to the kind that President Obama wants to ram down the throats of Americans-- kill acclaimed actress Natasha Richardson?

To no one’s surprise, President Obama plans to ask Congress to spend billions of dollars on public education. As he stated in his presidential agenda on education, the country cannot afford four more years of neglect and indifference. This neglect and indifference, according to the president, occurred despite the fact that in the last four years, the federal government and the states have spent more money on public education than at any other time in the history of our nation. What is surprising about Mr. Obama’s education initiative is his priority on early childhood education. His “Zero to Five Plan”...