Are libertarians 'ultraconservative'? Are 'free markets' 'liberal'

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Watch Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz enourage Nancy Pelosi to do an interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

By CHARLIE SPIERING | 02/11/14 07:16 AM

Fox News producer Jesse Watters was recently in Washington chasing around members of Congress trying to convince House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to do an interview with Bill O'Reilly. Watters revealed his results of...

By BYRON YORK | 02/11/14 06:39 AM

Recently the New York Times reported that Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, who owns a duplex in Dodge City as well as a house in Alexandria, Va., does not live in the Dodge City home when he is in Kansas. Instead,...

By CHARLIE SPIERING | 02/11/14 06:34 AM

NBC's Bob Costas on Tuesday downed a glass of vodka on air after both of his eyes became infected during his trip to the Sochi Olympics in Russia. "I'm not really that much of a vodka guy, I'm looking at it this way...

By PHILIP KLEIN | 02/10/14 06:33 PM

A provision in President Obama's health care law that required larger employers to offer acceptable health insurance or face a penalty has been delayed again for most businesses. The administrative delay, which directly...

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/10/14 06:06 PM

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Are libertarians 'ultraconservative'? Are 'free markets' 'liberal'

Libertarian Conference Lands Pols, Conspiracy Theorists and Comics

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By Warren Rojas Posted at 11:27 a.m. on Feb. 10

The 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference is rolling into town for a weekend (Feb. 14-16) celebration of freedom, information-sharing and spirited discussion.

The annual gathering attracts students from around the globe but typically features homegrown speakers and performers who share the same passion for living sans restrictions. House Republicans Justin Amash of Michigan and Thomas Massie of Kentucky are scheduled to address the youth-oriented gathering, as are Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone, veteran newsman John Stossel and former Hill-staffer-turned-comedian Andrew Heaton.

Heaton, who made light of the congressional grind as bumbling Chief of Staff Elliot Clarice in the satirical Web series Cap South, has been tapped to do standup on Saturday night.

The federal government is a large, slow-moving target, much like a solitary buffalo on opioids. Ill be whacking at that some, he told HOH of his plans for the gathering. But Heaton noted that his material is much broader than whats typically wrong with Capitol Hill.

First, Im not particularly mean-spirited by nature, so Id rather make fun of concepts than people, Heaton said of his big-picture approach to joke writing. Sure, he might lay into Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for getting all, well, Biden-y (He strikes me as a genuinely likable person whom Id happily get drunk with, Heaton said), but Heaton would rather keep things more conceptual.

Plus, he cant count on every audience being as inside baseball as those of us who live and die by C-SPAN.

Since Saturday will be a group of international students, theres no guarantee they would pick up on Chuck Schumer references or gems about Sheila Jackson Lee, Heaton said, referring to New Yorks senior Democratic senator and the Texas Democratic House member.

Not that hes letting that stop him from putting the finishing touches on a new book of political humor Laughter Is Better Than Communism that he plans to unveil at the conference.

Hopefully a few of the scholars will read it and further irritate their professors! he quipped.

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Libertarian Conference Lands Pols, Conspiracy Theorists and Comics

NEWSNIGHT: Filmaker Jack Niedenthal on meeting the 13 month castaway in the Marshall Islands – Video

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NEWSNIGHT: Filmaker Jack Niedenthal on meeting the 13 month castaway in the Marshall Islands
A fisherman sets off from the Mexican coast but gets lost at sea. Over a year later the fisherman, Jose Salvador Alvarenga, turns up on the Marshall Islands ...

By: BBC Newsnight

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NEWSNIGHT: Filmaker Jack Niedenthal on meeting the 13 month castaway in the Marshall Islands - Video

Leuren Moret: Fukushima radiation has made Hawaii and Pacific islands unsafe for humans – Video

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Leuren Moret: Fukushima radiation has made Hawaii and Pacific islands unsafe for humans
Leuren Moret: Fukushima radiation has made Hawaii and Pacific islands unsafe for humans http://exopolitics.blogs.com/peaceinspace/2014/02/leuren-moret-fukush...

By: Alfred Lambremont Webre

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Leuren Moret: Fukushima radiation has made Hawaii and Pacific islands unsafe for humans - Video

The Republican Agenda on Health Care

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Those interested in the future of health care reform should definitely check out Andrew Sprungs what if? piece on what Republicans would actually do if they had the chance after 2016. Sprung talks to three economists to get a sense of it. Its an outstanding article.

The first thing to note is that repeal is, in fact, dead. Theres simply no way to go back to the status quo ante. And in fact, hardly anyone would want to, including conservative policy wonks.

What I took away from the piece, however, was a bit different than that. It was that Republicans may be constrained by their own rhetoric into framing whatever they would want to do to improve (from their point of view) the new system as repeal and replace, even if the replace part of it basically just revives the things they are repealing.

In other words no one is going to simply shut down the exchanges (at least in the states where they are working, which will likely be the overwhelming majority of the states). No one is going to push young people off of their parents plans (or, to be more precise, allow insurance companies to do so). The Affordable Care Act was a large and complex law; there are all sorts of provisions in there that people now rely on and plan around, and for the most part no one is going to want to cause the disruptions that pure repeal would produce.

And yet there are quite a few conservative reforms which could certainly build on the structure thats now in place. Some of those reforms, as Sprung details, many liberals and liberal policy experts would be perfectly happy with. Some others wouldnt actually work well in practice, regardless of their rhetorical repeal. But the point is that a serious Republican Party would have an active health care agenda. It just wont (really) involve eliminating the ACA, just as the ACA itself didnt eliminate lots and lots of previous reforms and policies.

However, activists within the Republican Party are simply not going to accept building on Obamacare as a platform, at least not any time soon. What that means is that policy makers are going to have to, essentially, disguise building on Obamacare as repeal and replace. Which has two problems. One is that it may add considerable otherwise unnecessary policy complexity. The other is that its going to be vulnerable to charges that it doesnt fully repeal Obamacare -- because it wont! Remember, for example, the revolt against Eric Cantors bill to expand high-risk pools because they were tainted by their inclusion in the ACA. The problem is that President Barack Obama basically told the truth when he said that the Democratic bill included many Republican ideas, which means that there are relatively few pure conservative ideas available that have no association at all with the dreaded Kenyan socialist.

Now, its certainly possible that if Republicans really do capture the White House, the Senate and the House in 2016 that theyll forget all about that when they prepare health care legislation, and actually just pass a straightforward bill. They can always repeal the exchanges and replace them with Ronald Reagan Free Enterprise Private Insurance Access Points, and then move on to the sorts of things that conservative reformers want to add to Obamacare. And with a Republican in the White House, its very possible that activists and the conservative press will go along.

Its also possible that the risks of further health care reform will be relatively low-priority for most Republicans; they may be perfectly happy to have a Democratic filibuster kill something, and then move on to tax cuts or some other lower-risk, higher priority policy. In fact, that would be my bet. Health policy is hard, and Im not convinced that Republicans are anywhere close to ready to tackle it, or that they have all that much of an electoral incentive to do so.

To contact the writer of this article: Jbernstein62@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this article: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net.

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The Republican Agenda on Health Care

Health care enrollment fair at Stratham library

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February 11, 2014 7:10 AM

STRATHAM Uninsured and confused about changes to the health care system?

Planned Parenthood will hold an enrollment fair and informational session at the Wiggin Memorial Library in Stratham on Friday Feb. 14 from 1-3 p.m.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England has been named a Navigator Organization in New Hampshire, and can help you find health care coverage that fits your lifestyle and budget. Reservations are encouraged for this event and can be made by calling 860-5923, but walk-ins are welcome. In case of an unanticipated cancellation it is best to contact the library the day of the event to confirm the date and time of the program at 772-4346.

STRATHAM The Wiggin Memorial Library will host electronics and ice fishing, a program by Tim Moore, on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. Learn about some of the electronics available for ice fishing and how they can help double the amount of fish you catch through the ice.

For more information on this program please contact the library at 772-4346. In case of an unanticipated cancellation it is best to contact the library the day of the program to confirm the date and time.

STRATHAM Celebrating the survival of Stratham's four one-room schools from the 19th century, the Heritage Commission is hosting a free program on Friday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., in the Morgera Community Room at the Fire Station on Winnicutt Road.

The evening will feature Steve Taylor, a vibrant speaker and renowned storyteller who served for 25 years as New Hampshire commissioner of agriculture.

Taylor's presentation, "New Hampshire's One-Room Rural Schools: The Romance and the Reality," explores the history of these little schools that faced many of the problems that challenge us today. Taylor's appearance is supported by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities Council through its popular "Humanities to Go" program.

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Health care enrollment fair at Stratham library

White House again delays health care mandate for employers

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WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Monday again delayed a contentious health care law requirement that all but the smallest employers provide coverage to full-time workers, this time by giving medium-sized businesses another year to comply.

The so-called employer mandate, which has been opposed by businesses, was originally supposed to take effect in January under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But the administration granted a one-year delay in July.

The latest change, published in a 227-page final rule, allows medium-sized businesses with 50-99 full-time workers to avoid a tax penalty until 2016 for failing to offer health insurance. It also allows larger employers to phase in coverage by offering a health plan to 70 percent of their full-time workforce next year, rising to 95 percent in 2016.

Firms with fewer than 50 full-time workers are not required to provide coverage under Obamacare, but could qualify for federal subsidies through new health insurance marketplaces established under Obamacare.

The regulation had been the subject of intense business lobbying and drew a largely upbeat response from employer groups.

"I am quite pleasantly surprised," said Neil Trautwein of the National Retail Federation, a Washington-based trade group. "This is beginning to look more like something the business community can live with."

But the change triggered another wave of Republican calls to postpone Obamacare's mandate for individuals, which requires most Americans to enroll in coverage by March 31 or pay a penalty in their 2014 income taxes.

"Much like the individual mandate, the business mandate is bad for middle-class families and it will harm economic growth. But the answer to this problem is not random unilateral changes, stoking uncertainty," House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor said in a statement.

"It's time to stop creating more chaos and delay Obamacare for all Americans."

Analysts said the change could help vulnerable Democrats in November's midterm elections battle for control of Congress by delaying a potential crescendo of complaints from small-business leaders, a theme Republicans also picked up on.

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White House again delays health care mandate for employers

Health events around the Charlotte area

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Thursday

The Healthcare Movie

Health Care Justice-North Carolina will present The Healthcare Movie 6-7:30 p.m. in the Morrison Regional Library auditorium, 7015 Morrison Blvd. The 30-minute documentary examines the difference between the for-profit health care system and the single-payer Canadian health system. A panel discussion will follow. Details: pnhphcjnc.org.

Saturday

The Heart of Truth health expo

Medic and Pleasant Hill Baptist Church will host this free event from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at 517 Baldwin Ave. Free health screenings, vendors and more. Details: http://www.medic911.com.

Feb. 18

Living life on purpose

This group will meet for eight weeks and supports those who desire to discover meaning and zeal in their lives. Sessions will be 6-7:30 p.m. Feb. 18-April 1 at the Pfeiffer Institute of Marriage and Family Therapy, 4805 Park Road, Suite 240. Cost is $10 for an individual, $5 for additional family members. Details: 704-945-7324, kristindavis@pfeiffer.edu. To register: tinyurl.com/lifepurposegroup.

Epilepsy Support Groups

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Health events around the Charlotte area