Free Republic

The Senate majority leader’s about-face on high-speed rail. On Tuesday, Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s office confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the Nevada senator no longer favors publicly funding a high-speed magnetic-levitation (“maglev”) train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, a project he enthusiastically supported for years. Instead, Reid is suddenly throwing his support behind the DesertXpress, a privately funded rail venture between the two cities. Reid is claiming that his change of heart is merely pragmatic — but the underlying circumstances of the move may raise some pertinent questions about his political integrity. The construction of a...

LAST MONTH, Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. All the major news outlets provided daily updates on Kennedy's medical treatment and prognosis. The media failed to point out an important fact: Unlike average Americans, the senator from Massachusetts didn't have to worry for one minute that he wouldn't get the care he needed for his life-threatening cancer. The president, vice president and members of Congress all enjoy government-financed health care, with few restrictions or prohibitive out-of-pocket co-pays. They are never turned away for pre-existing conditions or denied care for what insurance companies label "experimental treatments" (like the...